Delmira Agustini

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Delmira Agustini was born on October 24, 1886, in Montevideo, Uruguay. She began to publish her work at an early age, and in her short life published three volumes of poetry: El libro blanco (Frágil) [The White Book—Fragile] (1907), Cantos de la mañana [Morning Songs] (1910), and Los calices vacíos [The Empty Chalices] (1913). An early modernista, Agustini was influenced both by the French Parnassians and the French symbolists. Her passionate and sensual work, which challenged the social conventions of the day, was highly praised by poets such as María Eugenia Vaz Ferreira, Julio Herrera y Reissig, Leopoldo Lugones, and Rubén Darío . She had planned on publishing a fourth book, Los astros del abismo [Stars of the Abyss], but was murdered by her ex-husband in July of 1914. These poems were subsequently included in her Obras completas, consisting of two volumes: El rosario de Eros [The Rosary of Eros] and Los astros del abismo, published posthumously in 1924. This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of the death of Delmira Agustini, considered as one of the preeminent women poets of Latin America.