10 Famous Spanish Poems by Hispanic Women

Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda was a Cuban writer known for her romantic poems and plays. Her timeless style and vision combined personal experiences with heart-rending literature.

Her love life was evidently as prolific as her writing, and that’s where she drew inspiration from. In Al Partir, she writes about saying goodbye to her homeland, feeling free, and flying away from home.

2. Al Claro de Luna by Delmira Agustini

Delmira Agustini was a poet from Montevideo, Uruguay. She published her first book of poetry as a teenager. Much of her work dealt with passion and taboo subjects. She wrote El libro blanco and Cantos de la mañana. In Al Claro de la Luna, she writes about her love for the moon. She died young at age 28.

3. Zamba para Pepe by María Elena Walsh

María Elena Walsh was a novelist, playwright, musician, and poet from Argentina. She is known for her books and children’s songs. In Zamba para Pepe, she writes to a friend who she really misses.

What’s interesting about Maria Elena Walsh is that she wrote not only about heavy political topics but also sweet poems and songs for kids. She wrote in the era of the Argentine military dictatorship and even wrote a civil rights anthem called Oración de la Justicia.

4. Hombres necios que acusáis by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

I had to include Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz on the list since she is one of the most famous Latin American poets of all time. What makes her poetry so raw and real is that she was a nun who lived during Mexico’s colonial period who became a prolific essayist, playwright and poet.

She fought for women’s rights and education opportunities and became a feminist icon. Her poetry rose from the ashes of church condemnation, so people refer to her as the Mexican Phoenix. This poem even appears in tiny print on the 200-peso note.

5. La Enamorada by Alejandra Pizarnik

English translation

Alejandra Pizarnik is an Argentinian poet who was born to Jewish immigrant parents in Buenos Aires. She suffered from depression and addiction, and people compare her dark yet powerful poetry to Sylvia Plath’s.

She unfortunately took her own life in 1972 at the age of 36. Alejandra left behind an extensive body of work that was deeply surreal and confessional.

6. Besos by Gabriela Mistral

Gabriela Mistral is a Chilean poet who won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945, becoming the first Latin American ever to do so. She never married and experienced the loss of loved ones.

These themes presented themselves in her poems but she was also a hopeless romantic, and that’s where Besos came from. The poem is about the different kinds of kisses and how they make us feel.

7. Angustia by Mercedes Negrón Muñoz

Mercedes Negron Muñoz is a Puerto Rican poet who was born in 1895. To this day, she remains one of the most recognized postmodern writers of her time.

Muñoz grew up in a family steeped in culture and politics, and she wrote about the deep and passionate emotions she felt. Angustia means anguish, and it reflected many of Mercedes’ experiences. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1918 but returned to Puerto Rico in 1932. She loved writing about existentialism, feminism, and politics.

8. Ágil Ser by Rafaela Chacón Nardi

Spanish Poems

Rafaela Chacón Nardi was a famous Cuban poet and educator who was born in Havana. Ágil Ser means “skilful being.” In the poem, she wishes she could live all over again and fall in love with her beloved.

She was famous in Cuba and in 1948 she published Journey to the Dream which was her first volume of poetry. Very little of her work was translated into English but her Spanish poems aren’t complex. Her simplicity in writing is what made her popular.

9. Atardecer en una Biblioteca by Nydia Lamarque

Nydia Lamarque is a 20th century Argentine poet who isn’t well known by many but she was an important feminist and social activist. She wrote poems such as Telarañas, Echeverría el Poeta, and Atardecer en una Biblioteca.

South America is a world of its own, and in this poem, Nydia describes how much she loves to read and how she longs to travel and see the world.

10. Charla by Rosario Castellanos

Rosario Castellanos was born in 1925 and died in 1974. She was a poet, an author, a diplomat, and one of Mexico’s most influential literary voices of the 20th century.

In her poem Charla, she discusses gossip and how people live for it. Rosario usually wrote about feminist topics, personal identity, and cultural issues for women. Many considered her a feminist, and she had no fear in her writing. She even addressed religious issues, and this poem was no exception.