Badass Women of Early America: Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz

I am sorry there was no video on Friday. I was dealing with some issues on Friday and then the weekend got busy. But the book vlog is at the end of this post. It's a Rosemary Clement-Moore Fest! But on to the woman of the hour: Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz

Juana De La Cruz was a Spanish Catholic nun (Sor means Sister) in a village south of Mexico city in the mid to late 17th century. She was a very well respected poet in her time, with rich and powerful admirers, but she is also a woman, which not everyone likes (we'll get to this in a bit)

She was the illegitimate daughter of a Spanish landowner and a Creole woman. Her mother was illiterate and raised six children (with multiple different fathers) on her own, never marrying. Juana;s grandfather on the other hand, was highly literate and had a huge library. He taught her to read and write in both Spanish and Latin.

At this time, one of the few ways for a woman to gain and education was to enter a convent and become a nun. Which is the path that she decides to take. However, this doesn't mean she doesn't have faith. Juana was very devout, so much so that she believed it was too important to write about.

This of course is another reason why some people (The Church) doesn't like her. She's a nun, an educated woman, and she's drawing attention to herself. And she's not writing about religion as a good little nun should do. So the clergy pretty much hate her.

But they can't do anything because of those rich and powerful admirers. She's a celebrity in intellectual circles, not just in Mexico, but in Spain as well. She's known as The Tenth Muse (of course referencing the nine muses of the Greek Pantheon, daughters of Zeus, responsible for creative inspiration) and the Phoenix of Mexico, rising from the ashes of her humble background.

The clergy lie in wait though, biding their time and wait for the moment when they can bring her down. And when she answers a private letter to a Jesuit priest. She disagrees with his opinion that Jesus washes his disciples' feet for the sake of love itself, saying that this act is proof of his love for humanity as a whole. And of course, her opinion makes sense, but that doesn't matter to her enemies; she's expressed a religious opinion and they use it to take her down, publishing the letter.

And they don't just want her to stop writing. They want to utterly destroy her intellectual pursuits. Juana de la Cruz had a library of between 2000 and 4000 books, in a time where books were leather bound, jewel encrusted tomes that cost an arm and a leg. And when the clergy work to destroy her reputation (and let's face it, her entire life) much of this library ends up getting burned and the rest is sold.

And that to me is the most heartbreaking part of her story. To quote John Green "I get really mad when people mess with libraries!" My personal library is only a faction of hers (almost 500 books) and I know that if anything should happen to even a couple of the books, I'd be heartbroken. To be forced to sell what part of your collection wasn't burned, especially when books were hard to come by (especially true in the New World) would probably break me more than anything else they did to me.

Sadly, the last thing that Juana every writes is her signature, in blood, renouncing all her writings. But the best things about Juana's poetry is that she was saucy and sarcastic, but in a carefully constructed, high-brow way so no one could call her on it. A really good example of this is her poem "In Reply to a Gentleman from Peru, Who Sent Her Clay Vessels While Suggesting She Would Better Be a Man" (Yes that really is the title).

Kind Sir, while wishing to reply,

my Muses all have taken leave,

and none, even for charity,

will aid me now to speak;

and though we know these Sisters nine

good mothers are of wit and jest,

not one, once having heard your verse,

will dare to jest at my behest

The God Apollo (Greek god of music himself) listens, rapt,

and races on, so high aloft

that those who guide his Chariot

must raise their voices to a shout

(Skipping a few verses)

for, having heard your murmuring,

the Nine Daughters all concede,

beside your verses they are wanting,

unfit to study at your feet.

Basically she's saying his verse is so wonderful that even the Greek gods and goddesses that govern music and poetry are in awe of him. it's highly likely that she's being sarcastic (that's how I read it) but if anyone tries to call her on being biting, she can always say, "No, I really think he's that good." One of the few instances where ambiguity of tone in written word serves you well.

And thus, acknowledge it I must,

I cannot scribe the verses owed,

unless, perhaps, compassionate,

keen inspiration you bestow.

Be my Apollo, and behold

(as your light illuminates me)

how my lyre will then be heard

the length and breadth of land and sea.

Though humble, oh, how powerful

my invocation's consequence,

I find new valor in my breast,

new spirit given utterance!

And now, she's saying that this man must be her muse, the one to grant her inspiration. He is so good that only by bestowing inspiration upon her will she ever be able to even attempt to respond to his astonishing verse. Anyone else smell the sarcasm? And then she goes on to answer his assertion that she ought to be a man

As for the counsel you offer,

I promise you, I will attend

with all my strength, although I judge no strength

on earth can en-Tarquin (turn a woman into a man)

for here we have no Salmacis (The fountain that turned men into women in the Greek myth of Hermaphroditus)

whose crystal water, so they tell

to nurture masculinity

possesses powers unexcelled

While she's shooting down his ridiculous notions, it almost sounds like she's considering what he's said. "Of course, if I could, I would become a man if that would please you. But alas, I cannot so I shall have to remain a woman. Oh drat." She could even be talking in the tone you use with small children to explain why it's a little ridiculous to suggest the moon is made of cheese.

There is more to this poem, and you should read some of her other stuff as well. Because she is very clever with her poetry, very tongue and cheek at moments (especially in "Which Reveals the Honorable Ancestry of a High-Born Drunkard"). She's sassy and spirited and doesn't back down until she's been forced to. I think more of her poetry should be read in school. Replace some of the Walt Whitman that most people inevitably despise (sorry to any Walt Whitman lovers out there, but your scarcity makes you special ;) ). So go forth and enjoy a women who politely (and imperceptibly) told her those who opposed her to kiss off.

(And here's the book video from last the last week)