GABRIELA MISTRAL is Latin America's best-known and most beloved woman poet since the time of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the famous seventeenth-century Mexican nun. Like Sor Juana, Mistral was fortunate enough to be appreciated in her lifetime. Like Sor Juana, Mistral rose from extremely humble origins to enjoy international acclaim, and both earned their renown within rigidly male-dominated cultures. Each was precocious as a child and largely self-taught, and each greatly advanced the stature of women in her time.