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? The 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 significant cultural phenomenon, and should be
read and studied without subjecting it to any tests. All these
positions can be defended, and this book has elements of them all.
As the title indicates, 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 Marianne Moore and Stevie Smith, but does
not include the many living women poets who deserve a volume to
themselves. In order to discuss adequately the work of those
included, it was necessary to omit many other women poets: the
selection has been made on merit, and to readers who miss some of
their favourite poets the only answer can be that the book does
nothing to discourage reading other poets. Indeed, 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 very willing to ask the question; and in order to do so he
frequently compares poems by women with poems by men, not so much
to ask who writes better as to explore similarities and
differences: thus Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is discussed along with
Alexander Pope, Emily Dickinson along with Gerard Manly Hopkins and
Elizabeth Browning along with her husband. Poems by women should be
read, enjoyed, and argued about. They 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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