Úrsula Céspedes (October 21, 1832 – November 2, 1874) was a Cuban poet and founder of the Academia Santa Úrsula in Manzanillo,

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, originally from

Bayamo Bayamo is the capital city of the Granma Province of Cuba and one of the largest cities in the Oriente region. Overview The community of Bayamo lies on a plain by the Bayamo River. It is affected by the violent Bayamo wind. One of the mos ...

, Cuba.

Biography

Úrsula Céspedes was born October 21, 1832, in Hacienda La Soledad, close to the city of

in the eastern part of Cuba. She first received schooling in her own home where she learned music and French. In 1854, she visited Villa Clara, where she met Ginés Escanaverino, whom she married three years later. In 1858, she became a teacher. The same year she and her husband founded the Academia Santa Úrsula for women's schooling. They moved to

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.San Cristóbal, where Céspedes also taught classes for girls.

Works

When Céspedes composed her first verses, she received the support of her distant relative

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del Castillo (18 April 1819, Bayamo, Spanish Cuba – 27 February 1874, San Lorenzo, Spanish Cuba) was a Cuban revolutionary hero and First President of Cuba in Arms in 1868. Cespedes, who was a plantation owne ...

, who declared Cuban independence in 1868, who also chose her first pseudonym: "La Calandria." During this period, Carlos Manuel was still living in Bayamo. She published her first poems in 1855 in ''Semanario Cubano'' and ''El Redactor'' in

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

, sometimes under the pseudonyms of "La Serrana" and Carlos Enrique Alba. She collaborated on "La Regeneración," published in Bayamo; "La Antorcha," in Manzanillo; "La Alborada" and "Eco de Villa Clara," in Santa Clara; "El Fomento" and "Hoja Económica," in

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 178,368 in 2022. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, ...

; "Corre de Trinidad" and "La Abeja," in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

; "La Prensa" and "El Kaleidoscopio;" "La Idea" y "Cuba Literaria" in Havana; and "La Moda Elegante" in

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. In 1861, she published her book ''Ecos de la Selva'' with a prologue by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in which he wrote, "Therefore, in spite of the defects they suffer from, her verses grab and seduce one; she paints what she feels; but she does it with such trueness to color, that her feelings are transmitted like magnetic fluid to the heart to those who hear her inspired word." Her spouse posthumously published ''Cantos Postreros'' in a small private edition. In 1948, the Dirección de Cultura of the Ministry of Education published a selection of her works.

Death

After the death of Céspedes's brothers and father, the uncontrolled persecution against her family and the loss of all their goods caused her to move to

Santa Isabel de las Lajas Lajas, known historically and culturally as Santa Isabel de las Lajas, is a municipality and town in the Cienfuegos Province of Cuba. It is located in the northern part of the province, west of Santa Clara, Cuba, Santa Clara and immediately sout ...

where she died on November 2, 1874.

Published books

* ''Ecos de la Selva''. Santiago de Cuba: Imprenta de Espinal y Díaz, 1861. * ''Cantos Postreros''. Cienfuegos: Imprenta del Boletín Mercantil, 1875. * ''Poesías''. Prologue and selections by Juan J. Remos. La Habana: Dirección de Cultura, 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cespedes, Ursula 1832 births 1874 deaths Cuban women poets 19th-century Cuban poets 19th-century Cuban women writers