Desolación

In 1922 Gabriela Mistral's first book, Desolation (Desolación), a collection of poems previously published in newspapers and magazines, was released through the efforts of Federico de Onís, Director of the Hispanic Institute of New York. Motherhood, religion, nature, morality, and love of children are present with an overriding theme of personal sorrow. Thus, her international reputation was established, and critics marked her poetry - direct and simple without adornment - as a turn from modernism in Latin America.