Between the Maternal Aegis and the Abyss

Book excerpt: Rosalia de Castro (1837-85) wrote five volumes of poetry before succumbing to cancer of the uterus at the age of forty-eight. While she is perhaps best known for her more introspective and intimate poetry, Castro's mature works are also highly feminist and political in thematic orientation. This book examines the fascinating system of poetic techniques Castro employs in her works to link the compelling issues surrounding femaleness and identity- both national and individual- to the construction of a system of gendered symbolic language that has been vastly understudied by contemporary scholars.