ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the three principal patrons: the archbishop viceroy Payo Enrquez de Rivera, the Marquise of la Laguna, and the Countess of Galve. In truth, and particularly in regards to the poetry dedicated to Mara Luisa, Sor Juanas flattery can often be described as flirtery. Sor Juana briefly mentions the vicereines pregnancy and then, as Powell observes, jumps from flattery to begin an imaginative chronicle that tacitly acknowledges her mistresss erudition and comic sense. In the overwrought flattery of the works written to the Count and Countess of Galve, one senses the frustration of a poet challenged to capture the attention of a potential patron. The ironic declaration confirms the role of flattery in spreading her fame and forming the alliances necessary to become a successful writer. The flattery Sor Juana employed in laudatory verse was a necessary means of establishing herself as a writer.