Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz lived a life without fear regarding the social criticisms of her writing and she wrote to influence change regarding the educational stereotypes made by the men of her era. Sor Juana worked diligently to educate herself continuously throughout her life in order to reach a level of sophistication that no man could contest. The educational life of Sor Juana started at the age of three in 1651, when she convinced her sister’s professor to teach her how to read. From that day forward, she continued striving to educate herself further. She did so by reading books out of her grandfather’s library until she had finally read them all. Sor Juana was born in San Miguel Mepantla, Mexico in 1648. She was born into a Catholic family during a time where the education of women was next to non-existent; therefore, her passion to learn was not socially accepted. Sor Juana was raised partially by her mother but predominately by her grandfather without the help of her maternal father. Somewhere between 1654 and 1658 Sor Juana heard of the University of Mexico, and her desire to attend was so strong that she dressed and acted like a boy in order to enroll, but her mother would not allow it.
By the age of eight Sor Juana composed a Loa, which is a short dramatic poem in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. By the age of eleven Sor Juana’s knowledge and memory were so vast and keen that she was considered to be a young prodigy. In 1659 Sor Juana was sent to Mexico City in order to study under a priest named Martín de Olivar, who was completely amazed with the level of intelligence Sor Juana had already achieved, and at how quickly she continued to learn. In 1664 the rumors of her intelligence had spread so widely that eventually Sor Juana was presented at the court of a new viceregal couple in front of Antonio Sebastian de Toledo (the Marquis de Mancera) and Leonor...
Cited: * De La Cruz, Sor Juana. A Sor Juana Anthology. Trans. Alan S. Trueblood. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988.
* Flynn, Gerard. Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1971.
* Morkovsky, Mary Christine. "Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz" A History of Women Philosophers: Modern Women Philosohers, 1600-1900. Edit. Mary Ellen Waithe. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.
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