SOURCE: “The Poetry of Dying in Alfonsina Storni's Last Book,” Hispania, Vol. 68, September, 1985, pp. 467–73.

In the following essay, Titiev examines the theme of death in the poems of Mascarilla y trébol in the context of Storni's experience with terminal cancer.

It is regrettable that anthologized selections of Alfonsina Storni's poetry usually do not include poems from Mascarilla y trébol (1938), her eighth and last book of poetry, since this collection contains some of her best work and perhaps her most original approach to form. It is also understandable because the content of the poems is depressing and occasionally confusing. In these poems, written during a period of great personal stress, the author succeeded too well in making her readers confront the doubts and disillusions about the value of life itself which she herself was facing. Early in 1935 Storni discovered she had cancer and a radical mastectomy left...