Envelhecimento: alegrias e medos na obra de Alfonsina Storni e Gioconda Belli

Abstract

This article explores the theme of aging in society through the work of two writers from different eras whose poetry documents both the advances and some of the lingering problems associated with the aging process. Alfonsina Storni lived in the early decades of the twentieth century when attitudes associated with the aging process for women were blatantly negative. By contrast, the work of the contemporary writer Gioconda Belli reveals advances that have been made in the acceptance of the aging process over the past century and puts forth the notion of the possibility of aging with grace. Belli’s poetry highlights the difficulties associated with age, in particular for women, and un-derscores the reality that, even into the early part of the twenty-first century, we have not yet fully accepted the concept that aging is simply another stage of the life cycle.