From an early age, Brigida lived in the countryside, which does not mean that she did not have an adequate education for that reason. With the revolutionary movement of Narciso López, her father, who had become known for her political ideas, was exiled and that made Brígida leave the countryside to live in the city, where she made known her poems. Much of her education was spent in the academy supported by the Camagüey Philharmonic Society in 1861, of which she became a member of merit.

She dedicated herself body and soul to the letters and to working for the culture of her city. In the Philharmonic Society of Puerto Príncipe, some literature classes were established and she skillfully demonstrated her exceptional conditions, being appointed Faculty Member of the literature section.

First written works

Her first writing at that time was an ode “Las Artes y La Gloria”, which she dedicated to the associates of the Camagüey high school and which she read in one of the many cultural events that she offered to society. She wrote other poems such as: ¨Lo Bello¨, ¨La Fe Cristiana¨ which was dedicated to her beloved father, ¨A Mrs. Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda¨, among others.

For the poet, everything that made her happy in her early years, after, in her youth, was a misfortune. Proof of this was how her family was persecuted for her revolutionary ideas and then how she got tuberculosis.

On June 26th, 1866 Brígida Agüero y Agüero died a victim of such a cruel disease when she had not yet reached 30 years of age, but she left us a great legacy of her poetry for the people of Camagüey.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García