Salomé Ureña de Henríquez is often described within the Dominican Republic as the "Muse of the Country." This notable woman of letters was a poet and an educator. Her intense love and commitment to the well-being of her country made her the object of intense love and admiration by the people of the Dominican Republic during her lifetime.
Background
Maria Salome Ureña, born in Santo Domingo on October 21, 1850, was the daughter of Nicolas Ureña de Mendoza, a prominent journalist, lawyer, diplomat, and poet whose work is considered to be one of the foremost examples of customs-based poetry during the nineteenth century. Her mother, Gregoria Díaz y León, came from a land-owning Dominican family.
Education
In order to understand Ureña's contributions to the Dominican Republic both as a poet and as an educator, it is necessary to examine her education. Ureña was tutored by her mother, who taught her to read when she was four years old. Dominican women had no opportunity to pursue a secondary or a higher education when she was growing up.
After she completed elementary school, her father decided to teach her with an individualized educational curriculum that provided her with a solid education in the liberal arts, languages, and classics, disciplines that she learned to love. This education was further expanded by one of her tutors, and eventual husband, Francisco Hernández y Carvajal. Urena's legacy is generally found in her dual roles as a notable poet and educator.
Career
One of Ureña's most lasting intellectual contributions was in the field of education. This talented woman started to work with Puerto Rican patriot Eugenio Maria de Hostos in 1879 to develop a progressive educational facility aimed at educating the people of the Dominican Republic. Opportunities for higher education were very limited at the time. After Hostos' establishment of Escuela Normal de Santo Domingo (Santo Domingo Normal School) in 1880, he and Ureña worked to create the Instituto de Señoritas (Young Ladies Institute). Its primary and objective was to prepare women for a teaching career. Ureña became a pillar in the operation of the school, and her work as a teacher and as an administrator are thought to have set permanent marks in the future of higher education for women in her homeland.
Ureña died of tuberculosis on March 6,1897. After her death, the institute was renamed Instituto de Señoritas Salomé Ureña. She is still remembered today as one of the Dominican Republic's most important poets.
Politics
Ureña was also influenced by the unstable and sometimes hostile political climate that permeated the Dominican Republic during her lifetime. Because she spent a substantial part of her adult life battling the deadly disease of tuberculosis, her literary production was limited. While many of her poems appeared frequently in newspapers and other literary anthologies, she published only one major book of poetry, titled Poesías, in 1880. Among her best-known poems are "Sombras" (Shadows), "Ruinas" (Ruins), Anacaona, and "Tristezas" (Sadness), many of which are considered classics of Dominican literature.
Personality
Ureña started writing poetry when she was 15 years old. Because it was un-common for young Dominican women to publish poetry and to attract unnecessary attention, she disguised her real identity by using the pen name of "Herminia," a common custom at the time. Her poems were acclaimed by the public, who identified with the feelings and imagery of her verses. Critics have divided her literary work in two general categories: romantic and patriotic/political poetry. Her work seems to have been influenced by modernism and romanticism, two literary movements popular in Latin America at the time, but also by the scientific positivism she acquired from Eugenio María de Hostos.