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Until quite recently, anthologies of English
poetry contained very few poems by women, and histories of English
poetry gave little space to women poets. How should poetry lovers
respond? This book begins by suggesting four possible responses:
the conservative, which claims that women have not written many
good poems; individual recuperation, which salvages some fine poems
by women but without altering the general view of English poetry;
alternative canon, which claims that women do not write the same
kind of poetry as men, so that their work should be judged by different
standards; and cultural recuperation, which claims that women’s
poetry is a cultural phenomenon, and should be read and studied
without subjecting it to any aesthetic tests. All these positions
can be defended.
… This book is about reading women’s
poems, rather than forming theories about them: it explores the
experience of reading Aphra Behn, Elizabeth Browning, Christina
Rossetti, Emily Dickinson and many others. Beginning with Katherine
Philips, the first Englishwoman to achieve fame as a poet, it covers
three centuries to the work of Sylvia Plath and Stevie Smith. It
is hoped that the form of discussion of the selected poems will
be helpful in engaging further with women poets of all calibres.
… Do women write differently from
men? The author assumes no predetermined answer but is willing to
ask the question – and in order to do so he compares poems
by women with poems by men, exploring similarities and differences:
thus Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is discussed with Alexander Pope,
Emily Dickinson with Gerard Manley Hopkins and Elizabeth Browning
with her husband. Poems by women can be related to the time they
were written and first admired, or to our views on women’s
history, or to our expectations of what poetry can offer –
but above all they should be enjoyed. And that is the faith in which
this book is written.
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Preface and Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 The Beginnings
2 Augustan & Romantic
Anne Finch
Furious Sappho: Pope and Lady Mary
Vile Dependence: Complaints of Marriage
Women against Slavery: Hannah More
Charlotte Smith
Romanticism & Politics
3 The Nineteenth Century 55
The Breaking Heart: Mrs Hemans and L.E.L.
The Brownings
Marian Erle’s Fate Worse than Death
Stealing, Murder, Female Bonding
The Castaway
Emily Brontë
Prepare your Fortitude: George Eliot
Christina Rossetti
Three Radicals
Augusta Webster
Mathilde Blind
Amy Levy
Emily Dickinson
The Moon’s Dropped Child: Charlotte Mew
4 The Twentieth Century
Ecriture Féminine & Modernism: A Note
The Americans
Marianne Moore
Elizabeth Bishop
Two Retellings: H.D. & Denise Levertov
Ways of being Modern: Edna St Vincent Millay
The Radicalisation of Gwendolyn Brooks?
Sylvia Plath
The English
Elizabeth Daryush
Ruth Pitter
Kathleen Raine
Stevie Smith
Aurora Leigh or What is it like to be a woman poet?
A Name of One’s Own
Index
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“Addressing
an audience that is educated but not necessarily scholarly –
that reads poetry purely for pleasure – poet, novelist, and
critic Laurence Lerner emphasizes his dislike of literary theory and
approaches poems as a poet and teacher. This book is not the ultimate
word on female poets, nor does the author intend it to be. Rather,
it serves as an introduction. Lerner selects a variety of poets from
the 17th to the 20th centuries and includes both well-known and neglected
examples. Among the neglected poets are some gems – e.g., Hetty
Wright (John Wesley’s errant sister) and Victorian radical Mathilde
Blind. The author also presents examples of what he considers to be
bad poems and compares them to similar but superior poems (perhaps
coincidentally all by men). Lerner takes the same personal approach
to poetry Edward Hirsch does in How to Read a Poem: And Fall in
Love with Poetry (CH, Jan ’00, 37-2605). Both books seek
the same audience, but Lerner’s often-judgmental approach differs
from Hirsch’s open and contemporary approach. Still Lerner has
much to offer, especially in his discussion of canonical poets like
Emily Dickinson and in his brilliant responses to his contemporaries,
e.g., Sylvia Plath. Recommended.” Choice
“Laurence Lerner, poet, novelist and critic, offers an enjoyably
readable survey of poetry by women, ranging from the famous to the
neglected. Reading Women’s Poetry is engagingly informative,
warmly responsive and incisively analytical. Lerner is lucid, provocative
and entertaining.” Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English
at Sussex University, author of many critical books, including Literature
and Money and The Deceptive Text
“Do
we read poem X because it’s a good poem, or because its revealing
of its author’s marginalised status? To Laurence Lerner, both
are good reasons for reading it, and no harm is done to poetry by
attention to matters outside the ordinary scope of critical judgement.
Lerner is a born teacher and his book evokes the ideal classroom
discussion. He is wonderfully knowledgeable and he reads the poems
with insight, skill and enthusiasm, but we are also encouraged to
think for ourselves and take pleasure in what we read. Reading
Women’s Poetry is an immensely stimulating book.”
Clive Wilmer, Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and
author of The Mystery of Things |
Publication Details
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Hardback ISBN: |
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978-1-84519-337-9 |
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Paperback ISBN: |
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978-1-84519-334-8 |
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Page Extent / Format: |
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208 pp. / 229 x 152 mm |
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Release Date: |
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August 2009 |
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Illustrated: |
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No |
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Hardback Price: |
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£42.50 / $69.95 |
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Paperback Price: |
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£18.95 / $34.95 |
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| This book can be ordered online or by telephone. |
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For the UK and Rest of the World:
Gazelle Book Services
tel. 44 (0)1524-68765 |
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For the United States:
International Specialized Book Services
tel. (1) 503 287-3093 or (800) 944-6190 |
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For Canada:
University of Toronto Distribution
tel. (1) 800-565-9523 |
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