Poets

Delmira Agustini born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1886. At a young age she began to compose and publish poems in literary journals such as "La Alborada," where she wrote a society column under the modernista pen name "Joujou." Soon she attracted the attention of Latin America's preeminent intellectuals who, however, remarked her beauty and youth over her poetry. This mechanism of textualization, that is, the conversion of the female writer into a literary object, haunted Agustini throughout her career and continued even after her tragic death.

Early Career

In 1907, Delmira Agustini published her first book of poems, El libro blanco (Frágil), which was very well received by the writers and critics of the time. Three years later, Agustini published Cantos de la mañana, which concluded with a selection of reviews on her first book. In these reviews critics continued to refer to Agustini using metaphors related to virginity and inspiration, an image that Agustini herself assumed and cultivated in accordance with the modernista rhetoric and the restricted roles imposed on the women of the age.

The myth of Delmira Agustini's duplicity was born in this atmosphere. On one hand, "la Nena" (the Baby), as she was called in the private sphere, responded to the restrictive societal constructs of the era that denied sexuality to their upper-class women. On the other hand, the writer began to formulate verses that intensified a powerful, sexual imagery. It was at this poi..