SOURCE: "Emblems of Praise in a Romance by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz," in Romance Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 2, May, 1987, pp. 213-21.

In the following essay, Luciani discusses stylistic elements of Cruz's panegyric poem to Condesa de Galve.

The panegyric verse of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz is, for most modern readers, of rather limited appeal. The intricate court hierarchies and systems of protection and patronage which gave rise to this kind of poetry now seem remote and obscure; the kind of flattery in which this poetry indulges now often seems vacuous, at times fulsome. What is more, Sor Juana's panegyric verse seems to have little to recommend it alongside the formal excellence and ideological profundity of some of her major works, such as the Sueño, the Respuesta, or the autos.

But when this poetry is considered within the context of both the viceregal...