Alfonsina Storni was born in April of 1892 in the mountain village of Sala Capriasca. Alfonsina Storni's life serves as a reflection to the problems that may have faced any intellectual woman during the early to mid 20th century in a male dominated society. Storni introduced pertinent issues well before the Women's Liberation Movement even began to impact society. She was a Latin woman, of lower income who foretold the coming age in regards to women's advancement. [[1]]

Paulina, Alfonsina's mother was a teacher who studied music and the soprano voice. Alfonso, her father had started a business in 1880, in which he produced soda, ice, and beer with his three older brothers in San Juan, Argentina. In 1885 her parents married and sequentially had a boy and a girl by 1888. They held a prestigious place in society during much of this time. The four of them left for Switzerland immediately. After moving to Rosario, Argentina and seven years later, they had their fourth child, Hildo, for whom Alfonsina developed a maternal affection. From this point forward, the family lived under reduced circumstances due to a bankruptcy of the family business. Her mother tried to run a private school with 50 children, but Alfonso decided a small cafe, which he would run, would be better. The cafe failed and their living conditions worsened.

At age eleven Storni contributed to the household and began writing. At the age of twelve she toured Argentina for a year. She was then sent to Normal School in Coronda and earned a diploma in teaching. Rosario was her first place to begin teaching. While living here she met and fell in love with a well-educated newspaper journalist who was also a provincial deputy. Despite the fact that they had a child together, Storni could not marry him because he was already married. With his reputation at stake she fled to Buenos Aires, where her son was born in 1912. She soon gained employment with an oil importing firm, where she gave orders and wrote her firsts book, La Inquietud del Rosal ("The Disquietude of the Rosebush," 1926). It was considered scandalous for unmarried women to write openly about their love, relationships, and politics. She lost her job because of this, but soon began another, this time teaching.She explained that in an interview with El Pueblo of Montevideo, it was necessary to have several teaching posts simultaneously just to make ends meet. Before and during the First World War, it was uncommon for a woman to be so self-reliant. Everything that she did took tremendous effort to maintain her independence.

Her Work

Storni's first book was published in 1916, when she was poor, unmarried, without proper contacts, unattractive (by the standards of the time), and living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Five hundred copies were published for 500 pesos. (About one peso equals one dollar today).

Her following collections, El dulce daño ("Sweet Pain," 1918), Irremediableminte ("Irremediably," 1919), and Languedez ("Languor," 1920) expresses her frustrations with stereotypes of women. In "Tu Me Quieres Blanca," (You want me white) she articulates discontent with the Spanish-American man wanting women to be pure. Or in "Hombre pequenito" (Little Man), she talks about the imprisonment woman may feel;

Hombre pequenito, hombre pequenito, suelta a tu canario que quiere volar . . .

Yo soy el canario, hombre pequenito, dejame saltar.

Little man, little man free your canary that longs to soar. . .

I am the canary, little man, let me go.

Storni spoke on the behalf of many women by suggesting that relationships between men and women be intellectual and more balanced. She urged the government to grant women the vote and wrote articles and essays on women's rights. La Nacion of Buenos Aires published several articles that she wrote under the pseudonym "Tao-Lao." She became a part of a group of writers, poets, artists, and musicians of the time who together visited "La Pena," a restaurant where Alfonsina used to stand to recite her poetry.

She took a rest from life's challenges around 1921 when the Teatro Infantile Municipal Labarden created a chair for her. In 1923 she became professor of "Lectura y declamacion" at the Escuela Normal de Lenguas Vivas. Shortly following she earned a chair at the Nacional de Musica y Declamacion. Her next work, El amo del Mundo ("The Master of the World," 1927) is said to embody the most distinctly feminist themes, but was considered a failure by critics and closed three days after opening.

Her fifth collection Ocre ("Okra," 1925) and Poemas de Amor ("Love Poems," 1926) express the female resentment for the merely comfort-seeking man. Great women in history, like "Las grandes mujeres," and intellectual women, as in "Las Mujeres Mentale" represent the conflict between the individual and the surrounding world. Compared to her earlier works these are more cynical and ironic poems that express her ever-growing biting attitude toward men.

Mundo de Siete Pozos ("World of Seven Wells," 1934) and Mascarilla y Trebol ("Mask and Clover," 1938) are more conceptual and obscure. She delved into issues, such as worldly perspectives, the sea, the mandala, grief, and death.

The Later Years

Argentina went through a military coup during 1930. This was the same year that Storni experienced a sense of hostility settling into a depression. A friend and colleague, Blanca de la Vega, suggested a trip to Europe. She made a second trip in 1935 to Uruguay, where she discovered a malignant breast tumor. A surgery was performed and her recovery time was particularly difficult. From this point on she exhibited a rare change of behavior caused by the sudden illness and cancer surgery. In 1938, she revealed to her son the fact that the cancer had reached her throat and that she refused to go through surgery again. On October 18, she took a train to Mar del Plata and stayed in a small hotel. She wrote "Voy a Dormir" (I Am Going to Sleep) on October 20. October 22, she sent the poem to the editorial office of La Nacion. While the public read her poem she, like Virginia Woolf did three years later, committed suicide by walking into the ocean and drowning.

Voy a dormir, nodriza mia, acuestame

Ponme una lampara a la cabecera;

Una constelacion; la gue te guste;

Todas son buenas; bajala un poquito.

I am going to sleep, dear nurse, lay me down

Put a lamp at my head;

a constellation; whichever one you like;

they're all good; lower the flame a little.

The preface to World War II was taking place in Spain between 1936 and 1939. Just as her early poems in "The Twentieth Century," Storni's death foreshadowed hard times to come. Hitler soon invaded Poland and Austria, and one of the most devastating periods of history began.

Bibliography

Doris Meyer, Rereading the Spanish American Essay, University of Texas Press, 1995.

Hispanic Literature Criticism - Volume 2, Gale Research Inc., 1994.

Hispanic Writers, Brian Ryan Editor, Gale Research Inc., 1991

Sonia Jones, Alfonsina Storni, Twayne, 1979.

Rachel Phillips, Alfonsina Storni: From Poetess to Poet, Tamesis Books, 1975

Jose D. Fogione, Alfonsina Storni, Libreria Argentina-Buenos Aires, 1939.