SALOMÉ UREÑA DE HENRÍQUEZ

SALOMÉ UREÑA DE HENRÍQUEZ

(1850 – 1897)

Nació en Santo Domingo. Fue poeta y pedagoga. Todavía se le considera como la figura central de la poesía lírica dominicana de mediados del siglo XIX y también innovadora de la educación femenina en su país.

Fue hija del también escritor y preceptor Nicolás Ureña de Mendoza. Sus primeras lecciones las tomó de su madre Gregoria Díaz. Más tarde su padre la llevó de la mano en la lectura de los clásicos, tanto españoles como franceses. Debido a ello, la joven Salomé alcanzó una educación y formación intelectual y literaria que ayudaría a codearse con el mundo literario de su país a los quince años. Se casó con el escritor, médico y abogado Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal.

A los 20 años casó con Don Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal. Les nacieron cuatro hijos: Francisco, Pedro, Max y Camila Henríquez Ureña. Su tercer hijo, Max, llegaría a ser una de las lumbreras humanísticas más destacadas de la América Hispana en el siglo XX.

Alentada por su esposo, en 1881 instituyó en la Isla el primer centro femenino de enseñanza superior, nombrado Instituto de Señoritas. A los cinco años de su iniciación, se diplomaron las primeras seis maestras normales.

Publicó sus primeros poemas a la edad de 17 años. Su estilo nítido y espontáneo se manifiesta muchas veces lleno de ternura, como ocurre en El Ave y el Nido, en otras se vuelve trágico, como En horas de angustia y otras veces su verso se torna viril y patriótico como en A la Patria y en Ruinas. La poetisa cantó a su patria, a su panorama hermoso, a sus hijos, a su esposo, a las flores, a la isla misma, como ocurre en La llegada del invierno.

Murió relativamente joven a la edad de 47 años, debido a la tuberculosis.

Salomé Ureña de Henríquez (1850-1897)

Salomé Ureña de Henríquez (1850-1897) better known as Salomé Ureña, was a revered poet and pedagogist of the Dominican Republic. Born in Santo Domingo in 1850, she was one of the central figures of lyrical poetry of the 19th century and an innovator of the feminine education in her country.
Biography

Ureña was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on October 21, 1850. She was the daughter of writer Nicolás Ureña de Mendoza and Gregoria Díaz, who gave her daughter her first lessons of education. At an early age Salomé was well influenced by literature. Her father taught her the classic works of Spanish and French writers that helped the young Salomé to develop her own career.

She began publishing her first works at the age of seventeen and soon became known for her spontaneity and tenderness. Later on, she became more tragic and sad with poems such as "En horas de angustia" (In Hours of Anguish) or very patriotic and strong in poems such as "La Patria" (The Motherland) and "Ruinas" (Ruins). She would include more themes of her own life in her poetry, as noted in "Mi Pedro" (dedicated to her son, perhaps her most affectionate poem), "La llegada del invierno" (The Arrival of the Winter), and a book that became very popular called "Steven", where she talks about her country, her family, the plants and flowers, and the island itself.

At the age of twenty, she married Dr. Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal, himself a writer, and an important figure in politics. She had four children with him: Francisco, Pedro, Max y Camila Henríquez Ureña. Their children would later become highly respected figures of the mid and late 20th century as writers, philosophers, poets, and critics of the arts.

Around 1881, Salomé was encouraged by her husband to open the first center of superior education for young women in the Dominican Republic, which she did under the name of "Instituto de Señoritas". Within five years, the first six female teachers were graduated from the Institute, something uncommon at the time.

Ureña died in 1897 due to complications with tuberculosis. She was 47 years old.