[7] Later described as child prodigy, Sor Juana was educated at home at the Hacienda de Papaya, becoming fluent in both Latin and Nahuatl,[8] and learning philosophy, and mathematics.

[13] Her criticism of misogyny and the hypocrisy of men led to her condemnation by the Bishop of Puebla,[14] and in 1694 she was forced to sell her collection of books and focus on charity towards the poor.

[16] She stayed cloistered in the Convent of Santa Paula of the Hieronymite in Mexico City from 1669 until her death in 1695, and there she studied, wrote, and collected a large library of books.

Resultingly, Sor Juana argued, this practice could also avoid potentially dangerous situations involving male teachers in intimate settings with young female students.

In addition to opposition she received for challenging the patriarchal structure of the Catholic Church, Sor Juana was repeatedly criticized for believing that her writing could achieve the same philanthropic goals as community work.

[16] First Dream, a long philosophical and descriptive silva (a poetic form combining verses of 7 and 11 syllables), deals with the shadow of night beneath which a person falls asleep in the midst of quietness and silence.

The person's body ceases its ordinary operations,[28] which are described in physiological and symbolical terms, ending with the activity of the imagination as an image-reflecting apparatus: the Pharos.

From this moment, her soul, in a dream, sees itself free at the summit of her own intellect; in other words, at the apex of a pyramid-like mount, which aims at God and is luminous.

Dazzled, the soul's intellect faces its own shipwreck, caused mainly by trying to understand the overwhelming abundance of the universe, until reason undertakes that enterprise, beginning with each individual creation, and processing them one by one, helped by the ten categories of Aristotle.

[31] The soul cannot get beyond questioning herself about the traits and causes of a fountain and a flower, intimating perhaps that his method constitutes a useless effort, since it must take into account all the details, accidents, and mysteries of each being.

Colombian-American translator Jaime Manrique described her poetry thus: "her love poems are expressions of a complex and ambivalent modern psyche, and because they are so passionate and ferocious that when we read them we feel consumed by the naked intensity she achieves.

Do you see my soul filled with pain and anguish, wounded by torments so savage, so fierce, burned in the midst of living flames and judging herself unworthy of her castigation?

[35] During seventeenth-century Mexico the society was heavily patriarchal, but Sor Juana managed to publish this work, which added to the backlash she would eventually face from the Church.

[35] Yet Sor Juana was driven by a conviction for women's education and was determined to apply her writing to challenge those who believed a woman's intellectual abilities were irrelevant.

[36] Sor Juana emphasizes the male irrationality with a man's ability and behavior to harm a woman by deeming her as "impure" by ruining her honor and reputation.

Mas, entre el enfado y pena que vuestro gusto refiere, bien haya la que no os quiere y quejaos en hora buena.

Dan vuestras amantes penas a sus libertades alas, y después de hacerlas malas las queréis hallar muy buenas.

Bien con muchas armas fundo que lidia vuestra arrogancia, pues en promesa e instancia juntáis diablo, carne y mundo.

woman without reason, not seeing you occasion the very wrong you blame: since you, with craving unsurpassed, have sought for their disdain, why do you hope for their good works when you urge them on to ill?

Some literary critics, such as Octavio Paz,[40] Georgina Sabat-Rivers,[41] and Luis Leal[42]) have accepted Sor Juana as the co-author, but others, such as Antonio Alatorre[43] and José Pascual Buxó, have refuted it.

Pawns of a House is considered a rare work in colonial Spanish-American theater due to the management of intrigue, representation of the complicated system of marital relationships, and the changes in urban life.

(Villancico 220) Professor Sarah Finley[50] argues that the visual is related with patriarchal themes, while the sonorous offers an alternative to the feminine space in the work of Sor Juana.

[54] Translations of Sor Juana's La Respuesta are credited to Electa Arenal and Amanda Powell, Edith Grossman, Margaret Seyers Peden, and Alan S.

[55] In his analyses of Sor Juana's poetry, Octavio Paz traces some of her influences to the Spanish writers of the Golden Age and the Hermetic tradition, mainly derived from the works of a noted Jesuit scholar of her era, Athanasius Kircher.

Paz interprets Sor Juana's most ambitious and extensive poem, "First Dream" ("Primero Sueño"), as a representation of the desire of knowledge through a number of hermetic symbols, albeit transformed in her own language and skilled image-making abilities.

Since Sor Juana was opposed to marriage, Paz argues, entering the convent was a socially acceptable way to be a single woman in seventeenth century Mexico.

O’Donnell argues that Sor Juana was called a rare bird because although theology was only an acceptable pursuit for men in the Catholic Church, she actively studied religion.

[68] Powell argues that the formal and informal networks and pro-feminist ideas of the Querelles des Femmes were important influences on Sor Juana's work, La Respuesta.

[25] Sor Juana's connection to indigenous religious figures is also prominent in her Loa to Divine Narcissus, (Spanish "El Divino Narciso") (see Jauregui 2003, 2009).

[21] Sor Juana's decision to cut her hair as punishment for mistakes she made during learning[72] signified her own autonomy, but was also a way to engage in the masculinity expected of male-dominated spaces, like universities.