What was Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz known for?

Mexican poet, dramatist, scholar, and Roman Catholic nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz is known for being one of the most important writers of the Latin American colonial period and of the Hispanic Baroque. Born about 1651, she mastered the full range of poetic forms and themes of the Spanish Golden Age and was the first great exemplar of colonial Mexican culture. Her best-known works include the manifesto Respuesta a sor Filotea de la Cruz (1691; “Reply to Sister Filotea of the Cross”), a defense of women’s right to education, and the intricate poem Primero sueño (1692; First Dream). Among her nicknames is “La Décima Musa Mexicana” (“The Tenth Muse of Mexico”).