JUANA INÉS de la CRUZ. – Poet, born in San Miguel de Nepantla on 12 November 1651, died in Mexico City on 17 April 1695. She is the greatest Spanish-language poet of the Baroque age. In her youth she distinguished herself in philosophical and theological studies; she was lady-in-waiting to the vicereine, the marchioness of Manchera.
She later entered the Order of s. Girolamo and carried out extensive literary activity, chiefly in poetry (apart from some dramatic works, such as Amor es mas laberinto; Los empeños de una casa and the sacramental auto El divino Narciso), written partly in Latin but always in the Baroque Gongorist taste of the period, though with particular depth of thought. Especially noteworthy are the sonnet A un retrato and the Redondillas en defensa de las mujeres. Her entire work is permeated by a vivid religious sentiment. Having devoted herself to assisting her fellow sisters afflicted by an epidemic, she too fell victim to II.