La línea de la estirpe

Melisa Machado (1966- ), a poet, journalist, and physical therapist who hails from Durazno, Uruguay, envisions herself as a proud member of this line, squarely within Agustini’s broad and ever-expanding network of feminist literary filiations. Fully cognizant of the debt she owes to this tradition, Machado frames her writing as an ongoing dialogue, a complex interplay of imitation and innovation upon the language, imagery, style, and themes of “las poetas que acompañaron [sus] lecturas de infancia y de juventud, y que aún [la] acompañan” (“Eros”). This poetic exchange results in an assertive voice that is uniquely her own, a poetic discourse replete with flowers, bones, and intimations of a veiled sexuality. And though the echoes of many poets—both male and female—resound in Machado’s work, there are three women in particular
whose impact merits analysis and discussion. With the regrettable exclusion of Marosa di Giorgio (1932-2004), whose collected works have only recently become widely available, the three influential Uruguayan poets presented in this study are Juana de Ibarbourou (1892-1979), Sara de Ibáñez (1910-1971), and the iconic Agustini.

Autor: Ezra Miller. Extraído de: A Senior Honors Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Comparative Literature Brown University. April, 2010. Thesis Director: Aldo Mazzucchelli, Department of Hispanic Studies Second Reader: Stephanie Merrim, Department of Comparative Literature.