El ocaso de la esfinge: Hacia una nueva interpretación de Primero sueño

Date

2002-12

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

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Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

Primero sueno is the most acclaimed poem by the Mexican Colonial writer sor Juana Inés de la Craz, On this dissertation, the poem is analyzed taking into account the mystic aspect of the numbers derived from the hermetic traditions of the Renaissance. The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate that there is a hidden meaning in the poem that may only be discovered and interpreted by persons with a huge background in hermetic traditions. That meaning deals with the aim of the soul in the poem, that is, to reach the knowledge of all things. Moreover, it explains the reason why the human soul is unable to obtain a universal knowledge. There are several elements that convey the hidden meaning of the Primero sueno. Among others, it can be mentioned the birds of the night, the various animals cited to descríbe the world, and the legendary edifícations such as the Egyptian pyramids, the lighthouse of Alexandria and the tower of Babel. The analysis reveals that there is a combination of the number three throughout the poem that explains its religious implications.

The mystic aspect of numbers, as a tradition derived from the hermetic thought, is explained on a separate chapter of this dissertation. That chapter bríefly explains how the Pythagorean philosophy and the cabala influenced the hermetic tradition on the renaissance. The two subsequent chapters explore the influences of the Dream ofScipio, by Cicero, the Commentary on the Dream on the Dream qfScipio, by Macrobius and Iter extaticum coeleste and Aritmología, by the jesiut Athanasius Kircher. There are important parallelisms as well as differences between Primero sueno and these texts; nevertheless, in can be concluded that there are important ideas regarding the mystic use of numbers that sor Juana could have received from the authors previously mentioned, The presence of Athanasius Kircher in Primero sueno is singularly important due to his interest in the orthodox mystic use of numbers.

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Keywords

Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sister, 1651-1695. Primero sueño, Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sister, 1651-1695 -- Criticism and interpretation, Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sister, 1651-1695 -- Aesthetics, Spanish poetry -- History and criticism, Hermetism in literature, Cabala in literature, Semiotics and literature, Pythagoras and Pythagorean school

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