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El poeta, cuya influencia fue enorme, dejó una herencia valiosa.

El poeta, cuya influencia fue enorme, dejó una herencia valiosa.
The poet, whose influence was enormous, left a valuable heritage.
From Lesson 266:Relative possessive adjectives (cuyo)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about El poeta, cuya influencia fue enorme, dejó una herencia valiosa.

Why is it cuya and not cuyo, since the poet is a man (el poeta)?
The word cuyo (whose) must always match the gender and number of the thing being possessed, not the owner. Since influencia is feminine and singular, we use cuya, even though the owner (el poeta) is masculine.
Why does poeta take the masculine article el if it ends in -a?
Some words ending in -ta or -ma that refer to professions, people, or concepts are masculine (like el idioma or el cometa). If the poet were a woman, you would simply change the article to match her gender: la poeta (though you will sometimes hear la poetisa).
Why use the preterite fue instead of the imperfect era for "was enormous"? Isn't that a description?
It is a description, but using the preterite fue summarizes his enormous influence as a completed, absolute fact of history. If the sentence used era, it would sound more like open-ended background information setting the scene for another action.
Can herencia mean both "heritage" and "inheritance"?
Yes! Herencia can refer to money, genetics, or property left behind (an inheritance), or to a cultural and artistic legacy (a heritage), which is the meaning used in this sentence.

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