Delmira Agustini: Explore the Uruguayan Poet’s Life and Works

Delmira Agustini was a South American poet during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She defied societal conventions at the time, exploring themes of sensuality and writing expressively about passion and female sexuality, topics that women of the era did not discuss publicly. Delmira wrote erotic poetry from the female perspective in a literary world that mostly featured men. While her life tragically ended at twenty-seven, she wrote numerous poems that contributed to the modernismo (modernism) literary movement.

Writing with vivid imagery and a bold voice, Agustini is one of the most influential figures of the modernist era and one of the first female Latin American poets.

• Early life: Born on October 24, 1886, in Montevideo, Uruguay, Delmira Agustini developed a passion for writing at a young age. At ten years old, she began writing poetry and published her first poetry book as a teenager.
• Writing: Under the pen name “Joujou,” Agustini wrote for the literary magazine La Alborada (“The Dawn”), gaining attention from Latin American intellectuals and writers. While some of her poems reflect on the societal constraints women of her time endured, she also explored themes of female eroticism.
• Mentor: As she developed her writing skills, Agustini looked to Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío as a mentor and teacher. Darío praised Agustini’s writing, lauding the poet for being one of the few women writers to express her sexuality publicly. However, many critics condemned the sensual aspects of her writing, urging her to remove the sexual content from her work.
• Marriage and death: In 1913, she married Enrique Job Reyes. The marriage would be short-lived; a few weeks after their marriage, Agustini requested a divorce. A month after their divorce in 1914, Job Reyes murdered Agustini, tragically ending her life. Her final resting place is in her hometown of Montevideo.
• Legacy: Today, literary scholars study Agustini’s work deeply, praising her innovative verses and carnal subject matter. Scholars regard her as a talented poet of her time who had not yet peaked in her writing career.

Delmira Agustini wrote alongside famous modernist writers—including Leopoldo Lugones, Julio Herrera y Reissig, and Horacio Quiroga—and left a distinct mark on the literary movement by incorporating a truthful female perspective into the historical narrative.

Modernism in Latin America gave birth to a polished prose-poetic form, where writers explored exoticism, aestheticism, and a new view of women. Agustini played a significant role in the latter by breaking gender conventions and writing about the female experience in a new, bold, and sensual way.

The poetry of Delmira Agustini is multifaceted, as she explored both the restrictions within the domestic sphere and the universal passion of amor (love) and sexual desire. Her most notable works include:

1. 1. El Libro Blanco (The White Book, 1907): El Libro Blanco was the first book of poems Agustini published, and it garnered a positive critical reception. Some of the poems within the book include “Noche de Reyes,” “El Arte,” and “La Estatua.”
2. 2. Cantos de la Mañana (Morning Songs, 1910): Agustini’s second collection of published poems featured a section dedicated to the reviews of her first published work, El Libro Blanco. She became known as “la nena”—a loving way to say “young girl” in Spanish—due to her use of metaphors exploring virginity.
3. 3. Los Cálices Vacíos (Empty Chalices, 1913): In many of her poems, Agustini invoked Eros, the god of love, even dedicating her third book, Los Cálices Vacíos, to the entity. Agustini originally divided this collection of poems into three sections, but publishers have since restructured it with new translations. Los Cálices Vacíos was the last work the writer published before her death.
4. 4. Obras Completas (Complete Works, 1924): Following Agustini’s abrupt and tragic death, modernist writers published her unfinished works. Volume 1 of the Complete Works features “El Rosario de Eros,” or “Eros’ Rosary.” Volume 2 features “Los Astros del Abismo,” which Agustini believed to be her most mature and ambitious work.

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