Marianismo
Evelyn Stevens' essay was very significant to this area of study. However, since its publication, her argument has been debated by other researchers and critics. Although her argument addresses marianismo in Latin America at large, many of the sources she uses mainly focus on Mexican culture, thus severely limiting her frame of reference. Also, she is criticized for implying that, despite other differences among various socioeconomic classes, the ideal woman's characteristics are ultimately the same across social classes. Her critics claim Stevens ignores socioeconomic factors, saying "her description of women as altruistic, selfless, passive, [and] morally pure" is inadequate. There have been some responses in the literature to the concept of marianismo that assert that its model of/for women's behavior is very class-based. In other words, the idea that men do all the hard work, while women remain idle, on a pedestal, is a life that rarely exists, particularly for the peasant, poor and working class women that make up the majority of Latin America women. As Gil and Vazquez remind us, "most of her [Stevens's] data came from middle class Mexican women".
Aleardo Aleardi
Aleardo Aleardi - whose name was Gaetano Maria, then he turned into Aleardo - was born in Verona in 1812 by Maria Channels and Count Giorgio Aleardi. After studying law at the University of Padua together with friends John Meadows and Arnaldo Fusinato, he returned to Verona, interest in poetry and art criticism.
Among his earliest compositions there are Marriage (1842), an exaltation of marriage as an expression of civilization, and the Arnalda Roca, in 1844, a poem that has historical protagonist a young woman who dies defending his honor: there is already in it the search for scenic effects and dramatic color that is typical of the entire production next dell'Aleardi.
The first success was achieved in 1846 with the two Letters to Mary, in verse, in which the poet turns to friend proposing a platonic love: it is an opportunity to express his belief in the immortality of the soul and pour out his emotional suffering in a spirit of romanticism way.