In 1930 he created in conjunction with Alejandro Gómez Arias, the department of Mexican and Hispano-American Literature at the National Preparatory School.
He belonged to the "grupo de los siete autores" (group of seven authors), a circle of dramatists active in the 1950s who revived the theatrical arts in Mexico.
He was an admirer of José Juan Tablada and an imitator of the latter's haiku-inspired poetry (a style at the time referred to as haikai).
He was from 1922-65 a professor of Spanish and Latin-American literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), his alma mater (M.A.
Monterde was a numerary member (seat 2) of the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua and served as its director from 1960-72.