Volcanoes as Relational Entities in the Poetry of Gabriela Mistral

This article explores how volcanoes are represented as relational and affective entities in Poema de Chile by Gabriela Mistral, focusing on the poems “Volcán de Villarrica” and “Volcán Osorno.” Combining literary analysis with insights from volcanology, we examine how poetic language generates a form of spatial knowledge that entangles geological processes with cultural meaning. Through close readings, we trace how volcanoes are rendered as living presences that shape and are shaped by human and more-than-human relationships. Rather than framing volcanic landscapes as passive or scientific objects, Mistral’s poetry renders them as sites of coexistence, tension, and emotional attachment. The article contributes to geohumanities by foregrounding poetic language as a medium through which landscapes are sensed, inhabited, and storied, revealing how cultural texts can offer complex epistemologies of place grounded in relational ontology.