Juana Inés de la Cruz
Juana Inés de la Cruz | |
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Portrait by Miguel Cabrera, c. 1750 | |
| Native name | Juana de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana |
| Born | Juana Ramírez de Asbaje 12 November 1648 |
| Died | 17 April 1695 (aged 46) Mexico City, New Spain |
| Resting place | Convent of San Jerónimo, Mexico City |
| Pen name | Juana Inés de la Cruz |
| Occupation | Nun, poet, writer, philosopher, musician composer |
| Language | Spanish, Nahuatl, Latin |
| Education | Self taught until the age of twenty-one. (1669) |
| Period | 17th century Nun |
| Literary movement | Baroque, Culteranismo |
| Years active | ~1660 to ~1693 |
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Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, better known as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz O.S.H. (12 November 1648 – 17 April 1695), was a Hieronymite nun and a Novohispanic writer, philosopher, composer and poet of the Baroque period, nicknamed "The Tenth Muse", "The Mexican Phoenix", and "The Phoenix of America" by her contemporary critics. She was also a student of science. She was among the main contributors to the Spanish Golden Age, alongside Juan de Espinosa Medrano, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón and Garcilaso de la Vega "el Inca", and is considered one of the most important female writers in Spanish language literature and Mexican literature.
Sor Juana has been significant to many communities across time, having been presented as a candidate for Catholic sainthood; a symbol of Mexican nationalism; and a paragon of freedom of speech, women's rights, and sexual diversity, making her a figure of great controversy and debate to this day.