| Hispanic Organization of Postal Employees, Inc. |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
This page has been dedicated for sharing information to our fellow HOPE
members and community members.
members and community members.
With this 26th stamp in the Literary Arts series, the U.S Postal Service honors
Julia de Burgos, one of Puerto Rico’s most celebrated poets. A revolutionary
writer, thinker, and activist, de Burgos wrote more than 200 poems that probe
issues of love, feminism, and political and personal freedom. Her groundbreaking
works combine the intimate with the universal. They speak powerfully to women,
minorities, the poor, and the dispossessed, urging them to defy constricting
social conventions and find their own true selves.
Julia Constanza Burgos García was born on February 17, 1914, in the town of
Carolina, Puerto Rico. The eldest of 13 children, de Burgos grew up along the
Río Grande de Loíza. “[M]i niñez fue toda un poema en el río, y un río en el
poema de mis primeros sueños,” she later wrote; “my childhood was all a poem
in the river, and a river in the poem of my first dreams.” Although her family’s
poverty made attending college difficult, de Burgos persevered and graduated
from the University of Puerto Rico in 1933 with a two-year teaching degree. For
the next several years, she worked at a series of teaching and journalism jobs
while also publishing poems in journals and newspapers.
De Burgos’ first collection of poetry, Poemas exactos a mí misma (Exact Poems
to Myself), consisted of poems she wrote in 1934 and 1935 but later destroyed
because she considered them juvenilia. The only poem that remains is also her
most famous, “Rio Grande de Loíza,” a love song to the river of her childhood.
In 1938, de Burgos published Poema en veinte surcos (Poem in Twenty
Furrows). The collection—about half of which confronts the traditional image of
women as submissive, fragile, and naïve—includes “A Julia de Burgos” (“To Julia
de Burgos”). The poem’s self-confident and assertive narrator rejects the social
and behavioral restrictions placed on women, forcefully proclaiming “yo soy la
vida, la fuerza, la mujer”—“I am life, strength, woman.” In “Yo misma fui mi ruta”
(“I Was My Own Route”), she turns inward, away from the world of male
expectations, to find her own future and, ultimately, “liberación íntima” (“intimate
liberation”). Other poems in the collection address political themes such as
equality and social justice.
Published in 1939, the award-winning Canción de la verdad sencilla (Song of the
Simple Truth) consisted primarily of love poetry. “[H]ay mil pájaros vivos en mi
alma”—“[T]here are a thousand birds alive in my soul,” she wrote in “Noche de
amor en tres cantos” (“Night of Love in Three Cantos”), a lyrical, almost mystical,
piece. “Poema del minuto blanco” (“Poem of the White Minute”) and “Canción
para dormirte” (“Song to Lull You to Sleep”) treat love as an irresistible force of
nature necessary for meaningful existence.
De Burgos left Puerto Rico in 1940 for New York City then moved to Cuba, where
she stayed until 1942. That year she returned to New York City but, possibly
because of racial, ethnic, and linguistic discrimination, had trouble finding well-
paid jobs in either journalism or teaching. From 1944 to 1945, she served as an
editor for Pueblos Hispanos, a New York-based newspaper that promoted many
progressive social and political causes including Puerto Rican independence. In
1946, she received another literary award, this time for her essay “Ser o no ser
es la divisa” (“To Be or Not To Be Is the Motto”).
From 1946 until her death, de Burgos was plagued with health problems
complicated by alcohol abuse. On July 6, 1953, she was found unconscious on
the street and taken to a hospital in Harlem, where she died. Because she had
no identification, she was buried in a common plot reserved for the indigent and
unidentified. Friends and family later moved her body to Puerto Rico, where she
was reburied in Carolina.
Published in 1954, El mar y tú (The Sea and You) contains poems that de
Burgos had written while living in Cuba and New York. Many of them describe the
loneliness and isolation she experienced in New York City, highlighting for Puerto
Ricans and other immigrants the importance of community and solidarity.
Julia de Burgos, one of Puerto Rico’s most celebrated poets. A revolutionary
writer, thinker, and activist, de Burgos wrote more than 200 poems that probe
issues of love, feminism, and political and personal freedom. Her groundbreaking
works combine the intimate with the universal. They speak powerfully to women,
minorities, the poor, and the dispossessed, urging them to defy constricting
social conventions and find their own true selves.
Julia Constanza Burgos García was born on February 17, 1914, in the town of
Carolina, Puerto Rico. The eldest of 13 children, de Burgos grew up along the
Río Grande de Loíza. “[M]i niñez fue toda un poema en el río, y un río en el
poema de mis primeros sueños,” she later wrote; “my childhood was all a poem
in the river, and a river in the poem of my first dreams.” Although her family’s
poverty made attending college difficult, de Burgos persevered and graduated
from the University of Puerto Rico in 1933 with a two-year teaching degree. For
the next several years, she worked at a series of teaching and journalism jobs
while also publishing poems in journals and newspapers.
De Burgos’ first collection of poetry, Poemas exactos a mí misma (Exact Poems
to Myself), consisted of poems she wrote in 1934 and 1935 but later destroyed
because she considered them juvenilia. The only poem that remains is also her
most famous, “Rio Grande de Loíza,” a love song to the river of her childhood.
In 1938, de Burgos published Poema en veinte surcos (Poem in Twenty
Furrows). The collection—about half of which confronts the traditional image of
women as submissive, fragile, and naïve—includes “A Julia de Burgos” (“To Julia
de Burgos”). The poem’s self-confident and assertive narrator rejects the social
and behavioral restrictions placed on women, forcefully proclaiming “yo soy la
vida, la fuerza, la mujer”—“I am life, strength, woman.” In “Yo misma fui mi ruta”
(“I Was My Own Route”), she turns inward, away from the world of male
expectations, to find her own future and, ultimately, “liberación íntima” (“intimate
liberation”). Other poems in the collection address political themes such as
equality and social justice.
Published in 1939, the award-winning Canción de la verdad sencilla (Song of the
Simple Truth) consisted primarily of love poetry. “[H]ay mil pájaros vivos en mi
alma”—“[T]here are a thousand birds alive in my soul,” she wrote in “Noche de
amor en tres cantos” (“Night of Love in Three Cantos”), a lyrical, almost mystical,
piece. “Poema del minuto blanco” (“Poem of the White Minute”) and “Canción
para dormirte” (“Song to Lull You to Sleep”) treat love as an irresistible force of
nature necessary for meaningful existence.
De Burgos left Puerto Rico in 1940 for New York City then moved to Cuba, where
she stayed until 1942. That year she returned to New York City but, possibly
because of racial, ethnic, and linguistic discrimination, had trouble finding well-
paid jobs in either journalism or teaching. From 1944 to 1945, she served as an
editor for Pueblos Hispanos, a New York-based newspaper that promoted many
progressive social and political causes including Puerto Rican independence. In
1946, she received another literary award, this time for her essay “Ser o no ser
es la divisa” (“To Be or Not To Be Is the Motto”).
From 1946 until her death, de Burgos was plagued with health problems
complicated by alcohol abuse. On July 6, 1953, she was found unconscious on
the street and taken to a hospital in Harlem, where she died. Because she had
no identification, she was buried in a common plot reserved for the indigent and
unidentified. Friends and family later moved her body to Puerto Rico, where she
was reburied in Carolina.
Published in 1954, El mar y tú (The Sea and You) contains poems that de
Burgos had written while living in Cuba and New York. Many of them describe the
loneliness and isolation she experienced in New York City, highlighting for Puerto
Ricans and other immigrants the importance of community and solidarity.
