Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

Sor Juana Ines De la Cruz was an incredibly talented writer and contributed greatly to the literary works of her country. As a playwright and poet, she poured her ideas and her feelings into her words, creating beautiful and eloquent pieces of work. She fought to obtain an education, and suffered a tremendous amount to be respected and given the right to express herself. Sor Juana Inez de La Cruz has become an inspiration to women throughout the years, and an idol to fellow poets who have learned from her style of writing and have studied the meaning behind her words.

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was the daughter of a Spanish captain, Pedro Manuel de Asbaje and a Creole woman named Isabel Ramirez. Born in Mexico on November 12, 1651, she grew up her father who was not around often; instead, she spent most of time hiding in the hacienda reading her grandfather’s books which was frowned upon and forbidden for girls. Sor Juana taught herself to read and write at an early age. By the time she was eight, she had written her first poem and was teaching Latin to other young children. When she turned sixteen, she was sent to Mexico City, were she pleaded her mother to let her disguise herself as a male student so she could go to the university there. Her mother forbade her from attending, but Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was still dedicated and committed to continuing her education. A year later, she encountered Vicereine Leonor Carretto, who was the wife of Viceroy Antonio Sebastian de Toledo. Carretto noticed how educated she was and wanted to test her. The Viceroy then invited many theologians, jurists, philosophers, and poets to the meeting to test her intelligence and ask her difficult questions. She astonished them with her thorough responses and quickly gained respect and admiration from them. From that point forward, she would slowly have fame because of her literary work accomplishments.

As she entered young adulthood, she continued writing and...