Agustina Pastora Andrade was an Argentine poet, considered to be one of the principal writers of the Generation of '80, and "probably the most praised female poet of the 1870s". The daughter of the poet Olegario Victor Andrade, her poems were praised by for their "idealized romantic love".
Early life and work
Agustina Andrade was born in Gualeguaychú, Entre Ríos on 9 August 1858 in the town of Gualeguaychú, in the province of Entre Ríos. She was the daughter of the poet Olegario Victor Andrade and Maria Eloisa Quiñones González. Interested in poetry from a young age, she began to publish her work by 16. With her father and the young Leandro N. Alem, Andrade worked on Álbum poético argentino, released in 1877. Encouraged by her father, she began publishing her poems in La Tribuna, forming a distinct poetic style, clearly influenced by Victor Hugo and Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. In 1878, she published the volumeLágrimas, and the following year authored Flor de un día. Her poems were praised by the likes of Benigno Tejeiro Martínez and for their "idealized romantic love". In his Poesías, the poet includes the poem, ¿Cuándo vuelves á tu patria? A mi simpática amiga Agustina Andrade. Andrade's poem La Fé was described as a "revelation".
Personal life
Andrade met the military officerRamón Lista, when he arrived to explore southern Argentina. In 1879, they married in Buenos Aires. Lista left the, where he became the second governor, while Andrade lived in Témperley, about twenty kilometers from the city of Buenos Aires. Although they did not see much of each other, the couple had two daughters. In 1890, Andrade learned that her husband maintained a parallel family in Patagonia with an indigenous Tehuelche woman called Koila, with whom he had a daughter. Heartbroken, she locked herself in the house for months on end, before leaving her two daughters in the care of her mother and committing suicide with a revolver on 10 February 1891. She is buried in the La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.
