Juana Fernández Morales de Ibarbourou, also known as Juana de América, (March 8, 1892 – July 15, 1979) was a Uruguayan poet and one of the most popular poets of

Spanish America Spanish America refers to the Spanish territories in the Americas during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term "Spanish America" was specifically used during the territories' Spanish Empire, imperial era between 15th century, 15th ...

. Her poetry, the earliest of which is often highly erotic, is notable for her identification of her feelings with nature around her. She was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

four times.

Biography

She was born Juana Fernández Morales on March 8, 1892, in Melo, Cerro Largo, Uruguay. The date of Juana's birth is often given as March 8, 1895, but according to a local state civil registry signed by two witnesses, the year was actually 1892. Juana began studies at the

José Pedro Varela José Pedro Varela Berro (19 March 1845 - 24 October 1879) was an Uruguayan sociologist, journalist, politician, and educator. He was born in Montevideo. Uruguay adopted free, compulsory, and secular education in 1876, thanks to his efforts. It wa ...

school in 1899 and moved to a religious school the following year, and two public schools afterwards. In 1909, at 17 years old, she published a prose piece, "Derechos femeninos" (

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

), beginning a lifelong career as a prominent

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. She married Captain Lucas Ibarbourou Trillo (1879-1942) in a civil ceremony June 28, 1913, and had one child named Julio César Ibarbourou Fernández (1914-1988). In 1918, Juana moved to

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

with her family. As was the custom, Juana and Lucas were remarried in a religious ceremony on June 28, 1921 in the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Aid. Lucas Ibarbourou died January 13, 1942. Their son Julio became a compulsive gambler and drug addict and Juana spent nearly all of her money, eventually having to sell her houses, property and jewelry, to pay his debts and the costs of his medical care. Juana de Ibarbourou died July 15, 1979 in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Poetry and philosophy

Juana de Ibarbourou was a feminist, naturalist, and

pantheist Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has e ...

Feminism

Juana de Ibarbourou was an early Latin American feminist. Ibarbourou's feminism is evident in poems such as "La Higuera", in which she describes a fig tree as more beautiful than the straight and blooming trees around it, and "Como La Primavera", in which she asserts that authenticity is more attractive than any perfume. Also, in "La Cita", Ibarbourou extols her naked form devoid of traditional ornamentation, comparing her natural features to various material accessories and finding in favor of her unadorned body.

Common themes

Nature imagery and eroticism define a great body of Ibarbourou's poetry.

Death

Ibarbourou's depiction of death in her poetry was not consistent throughout her body of work. In "La Inquietud Fugaz", Ibarbourou portrayed a binary, final death consistent with Western tradition. In "Vida-Garfio" and "Carne Inmortal", however, Ibarbourou describes her dead body giving rise to plant life, allowing her to live on. In "Rebelde", one of Ibarbourou's most richly constructed poems, Ibarbourou details a confrontation between herself and

Charon In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon (; grc, Χάρων) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of Hades, the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the wo ...

, the ferryman of the

River Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...

. Surrounded by wailing souls on the boat passage to the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

, Ibarbourou defiantly refuses to lament her fate, acting as cheerfully as a sparrow. Although Ibarbourou does not escape her fate, she wins a moral victory against the forces of death. Like most poets, Ibarbourou nursed an intense fear of death. Though it is easy to surmise this from her poetry, she states so explicitly in the first line of "Carne Inmortal."

Example of her poetry

''"RECONQUISTA"'' (Reconquest) ''No sé de donde regresó el anhelo''
''De volver a cantar como en el tiempo''
''en que tenía entre mi puño el cielo''
''Y con una perla azul el pensamiento.'' ''De una enlutada nube, la centella,''
''Súbito pez, hendió la noche cálida''
''Y en mí se abrió de nuevo la crisálida''
''Del verso alado y su bruñida estrella.'' ''Ahora ya es el hino centelleante''
''Que alza hasta Dios la ofrenda poderosa''
''De su bruñida lanza de diamante.'' ''Unidad de la luz sobre la rosa.''
''Y otra vez la conquista alucinante''
''De la eterna poesía victoriosa.'' ''-Montevideo, 1960''
''Mi pequeño regalo de Pascuas para Nimia Vicens Madrazo,''
''en su espléndido

San Juan de Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

. Afectuosamente. -Juana de Ibarbourou''''"Reconquista"'', poem written by Uruguayan poet, Juana de Ibarbourou, for the Puerto Rican poet, Nimia Vicens.
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Published works

* ''Lenguas de diamante'' (1919) * ''Raiz salvaje'' (1920) * ''La rosa de los vientos'' (1930) * ''Oro y tormenta'' (1956), biblical themes reflect her preoccupation with suffering and death. * ''Chico Carlo'' (1944) contains her memoirs. * ''Obras Completas'' (3rd ed. 1968).

Awards and honors

* Medal of Public Instruction of Venezuela (1927) * Consecrated "Juana de América" in the Salon of the Lost Steps of the Legislative Palace of Montevideo (1929) * Gold Medal of Francisco Pizarro (Peru, 1935) *

Order of the Condor of the Andes The Order of the Condor of the Andes ( es, links=no, La Orden del Cóndor de los Andes) is a state decoration of the Plurinational State of Bolivia instituted on 12 April 1925. The Order is awarded for exceptional merit, either civil or military, ...

(Bolivia, 1937) * Order of the Sun (Peru, 1938) * President of the PEN Club of Uruguay (1941) * Order of the Southern Cross (Brazil, 1945) (Ordem do Cruzeiro do Sul) * Cross of the Commander of the Grand Humanitarian Prize of Belgium (1946) * National Academy of Letters (Uruguay, 1947) * Gold Medal from the Ministry of Public Instruction (Uruguay, 1948) * Carlos Manuel Céspedes Order (Cuba, 1951) * Named "Woman of the Americas" by the American Women's Union of New York (1953) * Eloy Alfaro Order (Ecuador, 1953) * National Grand Prize for Literature (Uruguay, 1959) *

Order of the Quetzal The Order of the Quetzal (Spanish: Orden del Quetzal) is Guatemala’s highest honor. History and award conditions Established in 1936, it is bestowed by the Government of Guatemala Politics of Guatemala takes place in a framework of a p ...

(Guatemala, 1960) * Plaza in La Paz, Bolivia named for Juana de Ibarbourou (1965) * Branch of the Juana de Ibarbourou Library and House of Culture opened in home town of Melo (1977) * La Fiesta de los Milagros (1943)

Museums

In Melo, capital city of Cerro Largo Department, there are two museums that display her life: *

Juana de Ibarbourou's birthplace Juana Fernández Morales de Ibarbourou, also known as Juana de América, (March 8, 1892 – July 15, 1979) was a Uruguayan poet and one of the most popular poets of Spanish America. Her poetry, the earliest of which is often highly erotic, is no ...

* Regional History Museum

Notes and references

Works cited

* Sylvia Puentes de Oyenard. "Apuntes para una Biobibliografia de Juana de Ibarbourou." Foreword. ''Obras Escogidas.'' By Juana de Ibarbourou, ed. Sylvia Puentes de Oyenard. México, D.F.: Editorial Andres Bello, 1998.

External links

Juana de Ibarbourou Papers, 1915–1960
(5 linear ft.) are housed in th

a
Stanford University Libraries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibarbourou, Juana De 1892 births 1979 deaths Burials at Cementerio del Buceo, Montevideo People from Cerro Largo Department Pantheists Uruguayan feminists 20th-century Uruguayan poets Uruguayan people of Galician descent Uruguayan people of Spanish descent Feminist writers Recipients of the Order of the Sun of Peru Order of the Quetzal Postmodern writers Postmodern feminists Members of the Uruguayan Academy of Language 20th-century Uruguayan women writers Uruguayan women poets