Tuesday 12 November 2013

A slight departure...Salomé Ureña - Dominican Republic


Although this weblog is primarily about women who were alive during the First World War, I am nevertheless trying to include all countries of the world.  So far, the only poet I have found from The Dominican Republic is Salomé Ureña - with grateful thanks to Joel Uribe for the suggestion.  Joel is from:

Women Poets International
"I'm all I can be, a woman, a poetess"

Woman' Scream (International Poetry Festival)
http://womanscream.blogspot.com
http://facebook.com/womenpoetsinternational

Français:Femme Poètes International
"Je suis tout que je peux être, une femme, une poète"

Festival International de Poésie "Cri de Femme"http://festivalcridefemme.blogspot.com




which looks absolutely amazing - definitely worth a good peruse.

As Salomé is particularly inspirational, I have taken the liberty of including her here:


SALOME UREÑA (1850 – 1897) DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Salomé Ureña de Henriquez was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on 21st October 1850.  Her Father – Nicolás Ureña de Mondoze - was a writer who taught his daughter about French and Spanish classical literature.  Her Mother was Gregoria Diaz.

Salomé published her first anthology when she was seventeen and soon made a name for herself as a writer.  In 1870, she married Dr. Francisco Henriquez y Carvajal, a writer and politician. 

In 1881, encouraged by her husband, Salomé started an establishment for the higher education of young women in the Dominican Republic – “Instituto de Señoritas”.   Five years later, the first six female teachers graduated – which was an achievement at that time.

Salomé died from TB on 6th March 1897 at the age of 47.  She is remembered and revered as an educator and one of the most important poets of the nineteenth century and the first female poet of the Dominican Republic to write about subjects outside the domestic issues usually reserved for women writers. 

In the introduction to her complete anthology published in 1950, Joaquín Balaguer described Salomé as “a great poet who embodied the hope and aspirations of the newly consolidated Republic”.

MARTING, DIiane E. Ed., “Spanish American Women Writers:  A Bio-biographical Source Book” (Greenwood Press, Connecticut 1990).

For examples of Salomé Ureña's poems, please see the excellent website: 
http://www.los-poetas.com/n/salo1.htm