ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the ambivalent poet of empire, Sor Juanas texts seldom advance the civilizing project of the Spanish Empire. In her strategic imitation of his poetry, she adopted his stance as an ambivalent poet of empire and employed classical occasional forms to advance her literary career. While the author of the Aeneid is most often associated with the role of poet of empire in early modern Hispanic poetry, Sor Juana adopts Horaces first person voice and his ambivalent stance towards authority. Sor Juanas participation in the design of the triumphal arch demonstrates her ability to employ imperial ceremony as a means of articulating local concerns. Perhaps no other imperial ceremony rivaled the solemn grandeur of the exequias reales, or royal exequies, to commemorate the death of a king. In the ceremonial genres associated with the role of poet of empire, she appropriates colonial discourse and avoids the triumphant imperial discourses of the metropole.
