stephinmccloskey-mu

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

Burgos was an unhealthy individual, as she continued her descent into depression and alcoholism her health got worse. She was hospitalized mutlple time, most times is was because of respiratory or cardiovascular issues. This is a photo of the renovated hospital that she stayed in during her stints. 

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

Reflection

The works of Burgos have helped my open my eyes further to the influence and importance Puerto Rican Literature and culture in the United States and Puerto Rico itself. When I first started this class I was naive and uncultured, thankfully the works of Burgos and other artists we have studied.

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

This is a second mural, constructed in 2006, called “Remembering Julia”. It stands for remembering someone so influential for helping new Puerto Ricans find a true identity in New York City. 

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

A mural by Yasmin Hernandez in honor of Julia De Burgos and another hispanic painter. It is called Soldaderas, which means women soldiers, this shows Burgos’ efforts for feminsim in Puerto Rico. 

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

Life PT. 2

After her brief stint with love she moved to New York City. Despite the life of a celebrity Burgos fell into depression and alcoholism. On July 6, 1953, Burgos unexpectingly collapsed on the side walk, and later died in a hospital. Due to her not having an ID, she was buried as a Jane Doe, and not discovered until some weeks later. 

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

Life PT. 1

Burgos was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on Febuary 17, 1914. She grew up in the small town of Santa Cruz. She was one of 13 siblings, and the only one to finish college. She got her teaching degree at 19 from The University of Puerto Rico. 

She was married twice and niether lasted longer than four years. Her first marriage was from 1934-1937 to a journalist named Ruben Beauchamp. Her second was from 1944-1947. This time she married musician Armando Marin. 

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

Breaking Boundaries

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

This picture represents my interpreation of the poem “The Sea and You”. The poem is about Puerto Ricans journey to New York. She desribes the trek as a shipwreck and once on shore being plagued and burdened by seagulls who had no sympathy or mercy just because she was new to an unknown land.  Once Puerto Ricans got to NYC they were in a whole different landscape, and they had no sense of identity. Their hopes and dreams were crushed by systematic racism, capitalistic America, prejudice law enforcement. Many Puerto Ricans found once they got to the United States they absolutely hated it. The poem also reminds me of West Side Story. 

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

I am life, I am strength, I am woman.

Julia De Burgos

This is a excerpt from one of De Burgos’ poems “To Julia De Burgos”. There seems to be voices in her head telling she cannot do what she is doing because she is a woman, and every second line is her progressive self talking to her demeaning self. This is the quote that stuck out to me the most, because it shows how much of a progressive feminist De Burgos was during her time. 

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

The poem “Ay, Ay, Ay, del la Gifa Negra by Julia De Burgos focuses on three different identities. Each “ay” respresents a different “I”. The first “I” represents someone who is socially aware of their ethnicity and historical background. She gives identifies herself as Mozambique, which is a country in Africa. This leads me to believe that she is speaking of her ancestors who were brought to Puerto Rico during the slave trade. We learned that the slaves were forced to work the lands of Puerto Rico in the beginning of the semester. They were looked down upon and given no credit for helping the islands economy survive. This focuses on Puerto Ricos reputation for racial oppression,which may have helped Burgos spur into self-acceptance as an Afro-Carribean woman (Soto 1). 

The second stanza and “ay” represents a woman seeing herself as an object in the eyes of men. Rather than dive into what her personality traits are, she lists off physical attributes. She calls her self a black statue who has scultped herself into what men want her to be. This reminds me of Fela in “Daughters of the Stone”, and the scene where she goes to the market by herself to gather supplies for sewing. All of the men in the town square stare at her beauty and desribe their wants of lying in bed with her. 

The third and most powerful “ay” represents the relationship between the slave and the master or at a deeper meaning the relationship between men and women.  She states something about her only costing thirty coins to a man, which involves the undervaluing men had for women at the time. This reminds me of Buenaventuras under appreciation of his wife and her artisitc ability and personality. 

[stephinmccloskey-mu]

Introduction

In this blog I will be analyzing the texts from the poetry collection: Song of the Simple by Julia De Burgos. Most of these poems deal with feminism, identity, and political issues on the island of Puerto Rico.