Salma Resendiz Rubio
Juana Ines de la Cruz
Poem:
This that you see, the false presentment planned
With finest art and all the colored shadows
And reasoning's of shade, doth but disclosed
The poor deceits by earthly senses fanned!
Here where in constant flattery expand
Excuses for the stains that old age knows,
pretexts against the years' advancing the snows,
The footprints of old seasons to withstand;
'Tis but vain artifice of scheming minds;
'Tis but a flower fading on the winds;
'Tis but a useless protest against fate;
'Tis but stupidity without a thought,
A lifeless shadow, if we meditate;
'Tis death, tis dust, tis shadow, yea, 'tis nought.
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-her-portrait/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/angrylambie/18632770096/in/photostream/
Biography:
Sor Juana Ines de La Cruz was born on November 12, 1651 in San Miguel Neplanta, Mexico. She loved to read when she was a child and she composed her first poem at the age of eight. She would write poems in many different languages like Nahuatl which is an Aztec language that was spoken in central Mexico. She tired to disguise herself as a male in order to go to a university but her parents did not let her. Juana left Mexico in 1688, during that time a letter of hers got criticized and published without her consent, due to the criticism the Archbishop made her give up non-religious books, so she started publishing non-religious books, musicals and more. A plague hit on April 17, 1695 and due to Juana taking care of her sisters she ended up dying from the disease around age 44.
The poem is about the beauty of a woman and how our beauty is not shown off enough, us women tend to criticize ourselves too much which gives us a hard time finding the positivity in us. We are each a piece of art and a creation on earth. No matter how much we age we will continue to be beautiful. The speaker is trying to point out what we females tend to do with ourselves and the negative spots that we try to point out to ourselves. She is trying to let us understand that we each have our own different flaws and there is no point on trying to change who we are or how we look because of our thoughts, we were born in one way and we're going to die the same way.
There were parts where she described the reasons of why we talk badly about ourselves "Excuses for the stains that old age knows..." she's telling us that women use their age as an excuse about their comments. I've noticed a lot of women who start talking bad about themselves as they age due to their wrinkles or just how their looks start to change and they have to know that no matter what age you are you have to understand that you still have beauty in you. Your own thoughts are what bring you down when really you still have so much beauty to spare "'Tis but stupidity without a thought..." you can't let your own self bring you down, you have to learn how to love yourself and understand the beauty of life. We were created by two people, we didn't choose our looks and no one else chose our looks, we can't how we look and even if we can their would be no reason to change ourselves because natural beauty is real beauty, we will not choose how we die and we will not choose how we look once we die, "'Tis death, tis dust, tis shadow, yea, 'tis nought."
The tone is a type of calm but bold, the author is trying to make it seem or feel normal how we usually feel about ourselves but she's trying to point out the obvious points that we make on our own. She makes the tone like an argument but she doesn't want to be too aggressive toward the reader. She makes the tone bold in order to let us agree to the point she's making, to let us know that she could be right. The theme of this poem is, no matter who you are, what age or what your looks are, never listen to your negative thoughts always have your positive thoughts be the correct thoughts, you females are beautiful.
pretexts against the years' advancing the snows,
The footprints of old seasons to withstand;
'Tis but vain artifice of scheming minds;
'Tis but a flower fading on the winds;
'Tis but a useless protest against fate;
'Tis but stupidity without a thought,
A lifeless shadow, if we meditate;
'Tis death, tis dust, tis shadow, yea, 'tis nought.
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-her-portrait/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/angrylambie/18632770096/in/photostream/
Biography:
Sor Juana Ines de La Cruz was born on November 12, 1651 in San Miguel Neplanta, Mexico. She loved to read when she was a child and she composed her first poem at the age of eight. She would write poems in many different languages like Nahuatl which is an Aztec language that was spoken in central Mexico. She tired to disguise herself as a male in order to go to a university but her parents did not let her. Juana left Mexico in 1688, during that time a letter of hers got criticized and published without her consent, due to the criticism the Archbishop made her give up non-religious books, so she started publishing non-religious books, musicals and more. A plague hit on April 17, 1695 and due to Juana taking care of her sisters she ended up dying from the disease around age 44.
The poem is about the beauty of a woman and how our beauty is not shown off enough, us women tend to criticize ourselves too much which gives us a hard time finding the positivity in us. We are each a piece of art and a creation on earth. No matter how much we age we will continue to be beautiful. The speaker is trying to point out what we females tend to do with ourselves and the negative spots that we try to point out to ourselves. She is trying to let us understand that we each have our own different flaws and there is no point on trying to change who we are or how we look because of our thoughts, we were born in one way and we're going to die the same way.
There were parts where she described the reasons of why we talk badly about ourselves "Excuses for the stains that old age knows..." she's telling us that women use their age as an excuse about their comments. I've noticed a lot of women who start talking bad about themselves as they age due to their wrinkles or just how their looks start to change and they have to know that no matter what age you are you have to understand that you still have beauty in you. Your own thoughts are what bring you down when really you still have so much beauty to spare "'Tis but stupidity without a thought..." you can't let your own self bring you down, you have to learn how to love yourself and understand the beauty of life. We were created by two people, we didn't choose our looks and no one else chose our looks, we can't how we look and even if we can their would be no reason to change ourselves because natural beauty is real beauty, we will not choose how we die and we will not choose how we look once we die, "'Tis death, tis dust, tis shadow, yea, 'tis nought."
The tone is a type of calm but bold, the author is trying to make it seem or feel normal how we usually feel about ourselves but she's trying to point out the obvious points that we make on our own. She makes the tone like an argument but she doesn't want to be too aggressive toward the reader. She makes the tone bold in order to let us agree to the point she's making, to let us know that she could be right. The theme of this poem is, no matter who you are, what age or what your looks are, never listen to your negative thoughts always have your positive thoughts be the correct thoughts, you females are beautiful.
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