Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, painting by Miguel Cabrera, c. 18th century; in the National Museum of History, Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, (born Nov. 12, 1651, San Miguel Nepantla, Viceroyalty of New Spain—died April 17, 1695, Mexico City), Mexican poet, dramatist, scholar, nun, and early feminist. Born out of wedlock to a family of modest means, she was sent to relatives in Mexico City, where her great intelligence became known to the viceroy. She soon became a nun, remaining cloistered for the rest of her life. Sor Juana had one of the largest private libraries in the New World. Her most important works are the poem First Dream (1692; translated in A Sor Juana Anthology), which recounts the soul’s quest for knowledge, and “The Reply to Sister Filotea of the Cross” (1691), her defense of women’s right to knowledge.
