Introduction

Throughout the ages written works of literature, both in prose form and in poetry form, deriving from
the female gender have fought hard for their place in the literary world. This anthology explores the
crucial steps made by such female poets, steps that have radically changed the perception and analysis
of poetry. It is such poetry that has brought to light those voices that had otherwise been silenced.
The poetry I have chosen to be included in The Inside Out is such which explores just that
the inside of the minds of female poets that, previously to the Contemporary era, was rarely read
about. The collection presents to the reader a varied range of personal and emotional journeys that its
authors have chosen to share; moments including sexual intercourse, sexual abuse, pregnancy, birth
and even miscarriage and abortion. Those female poets selected for this anthology are poets that have
struggled against the times and literary critics of the Contemporary era to produce respected pieces of
work.
In his poetry review Strugnells Incredible Lightness of Being
1
John Whitworth writes
Frankly, most Womens Poems are a joke./Their sonnets scan. Their rondels rhyme. And
worse./Their volumes SELL! Of course they cannot hope/To pass as Poets in the Modern manner./I
scorn to live next door to Sophie Hannah.
2
It is this old fashioned view deriving from male poets and
authors that have connected negative connotations to womens work within the literary world. The
backlash of emotional and incredibly personal content of poems from women arrived at the precipice
of the Contemporary era, with many poems containing language of a sexual nature and details of the
female anatomy that had otherwise remained private matters. The very question that this anthology
strives to ask is; Why have women chosen to speak out about these subjects? Is it simply second
nature for women to want others to appreciate the physical and emotional struggles that have been
presented to them throughout time? Or is it that poetry containing such raw and shocking content is
the only kind that ensures its female poets are recognized as respected professionals and equals to
men? This anthology hopes to give a clue as to what exactly these female poets have hoped to achieve
by writing such radically different poetry.
The poems that make up this anthology have been chosen with regard to their subject content,
as well as the literary presence of their authors throughout the Contemporary era. The collection is
separated into four different sections; Sex, Sexual Abuse, Pregnancy, Birth and Motherhood and
Miscarriage and Abortion. The content of these poems portray the situations that women find
themselves in, situations that can have harrowing effects on their emotional and physical beings that
the rest of the world (mainly men) have no idea of. This style of poetry, which is mainly made up of
biographical writing, is a style that became popular early on in the Contemporary era. As the female
poets of the Contemporary era began writing in this biographical style about the intimacies of their
lives there ensued a backlash throughout the academic and critical world. In 1996 Patrick Murphy
wrote The Women Are Speaking
3
, an academic essay that explored the progression of female poets

1
J. Whitworth, "'STRUGNELLS INCREDIBLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING'", Poetry review, 86(4), 1996, pp.
77-77
2
Ibid
3
Murphy, Patrick D. "The Women Are Speaking: Contemporary Literature as Theoretical Critique."
Ecofeminist Literary Criticism: Theory, Interpretation, Pedagogy (1998): 23-48.),
within the literary world, as well as controversial issues regarding religion, race and class. In some
ways, in this essay, Murphy poses a question that would be on any female poets mind; whether or
not the male authors have been listening to the women who are speaking and reflecting those voices in
their own work, even as we continue to promote the women who are speaking and encourage other
women to give voice through literature to their beliefs and values.
4

This anthology, The Inside Out, kicks off with a selection of poetry that explores the subject
of sex through the eyes of women. The first poem, Remembrance of an Open Wound by Pascale
Petit, explores the emotional effects of sexual intercourse that occurs between two people that are in
love with one another. The metaphorical lexis used by Petit highlights the animalistic nature of
making love and places the act of sexual intercourse with a man in the same category as a fucking
crash. This particular poem sets a precedent for the remainder of the anthology as Petit begins to shed
a light on the male character of the poem that is tainted with negativity. The line you holding me
down with your knee is a clear indication that Petit is striving here to voice her feelings as a woman
experiencing sexual intercourse; something which, before the contemporary era, had been virtually
non-existent. The poems included within the first section, Sex, derive from female authors Sophie
Hannah, Fiona Pitt-Kethley and Catherine Smith; all female poets who are known for their raw and
honest writing when it comes to such personal and private issues. It seems crucially important to
include such poets as Sophie Hannah, mentioned previously in John Whitworths review
5
, as female
poets of the same have been under the scrutiny of critical reviewers and academic authors for
including such sensitivity in their writing.
The first section, focusing on sex, also includes poetry by Fiona Pitt-Kethley; four poems to
be precise which all voice Pitt-Kethleys opinions and experiences of sexual encounters with men.
Fiona Pitt-Kethleys writing seems to take a slightly different stance in the ongoing struggle that
female poets have encountered; a stance including humour, sarcasm and the ridiculing of mens
sexual performances. This section of the anthology includes Pitt-Kethleys poems Sex Objects,
How to Become a Handy Man, Dirty Old Men and Blow Jobs all of which express a view
peppered with sarcasm and humour on the sexual ignorance of men. Sex Objects and Dirty Old
Men are two poems which really open the eyes of the reader in terms of how men are perceived,
sexually, by women. Pitt-Kethley, throughout these poems, portray the male gender to be perverse,
dirty and at times desperate; in Sex Objects Pitt-Kethley describes the process of a male buying a
new range of sex doll and how this transcends into him longing for sexual intercourse with human
females. Pitt-Kethley writes He starts to look for human girls to fuck,/but finds they usually need
persuasion first/their fannies arent so neatly set in front and,/unlike Ingrid, they can criticise. This
alludes to the idea that the male gender cannot seem to help themselves when it comes to their sexual
desires towards the female gender; portraying them as weak. This, paired with the mocking and
somewhat confident air that Pitt-Kethley writes with through the remainder of her poems within this
section, serves as a platform on which Pitt-Kethley is able to give a voice to the female population.
Fiona Pitt-Kethley, as a female poet, holds an important place throughout the anthology as her
particular style of writing is one which fights back against the criticism female poets have faced
throughout time in such a way that the reader begins to unwittingly see the male gender as the weaker
sex.

4
Ibid, Page 46
5
J. Whitworth, "'STRUGNELLS INCREDIBLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING'", Poetry review, 86(4), 1996, pp.
77-77
The order in which I have laid out the sub-sections of this anthology is not by accident; each
sections serves as a different stage in the emotional and physical journey that can be encountered only
by women. The poems in the first section, Sex, set out to portray to the reader the first intimate
encounters with the male gender, as well as the personal views and opinions of their authors. Losing
It to David Cassidy by Catherine Smith shows a female losing her virginity to a man who she
compares, in her mind, to David Cassidy. The poem explores the rough and animalistic way that the
man completes the act of sexual intercourse, describing the way that he is quick to roll off, zip up and
slouch downstairs/to watch the end of Match of the Day This honest and unashamed account of the
treatment of women, by Catherine Smith, is a relatively new concept within the Contemporary era as
Womens musings about men are less well documented because, as it is men who have held social
and economic power it is their voices that we find reflected not only in written records but also in oral
tradition.
6
The Sex section of the anthology includes two more poems; Prickly Pears by Pascale
Petit and Slow Start, Weak End by Sophie Hannah. Both of these poems express the exposed and
possibly vulnerable feeling that can emerge from the act of sexual intercourse with men. The poems
add a somewhat sensitive tone to the first section of this anthology, balancing out the confrontational
and powerful works of female poets like Fiona Pitt-Kethley and the softer, more expressive works.
Following the first section, Sex, comes a section called Sexual Abuse. This section has
been included in the The Inside Out as Pascale Petits account of a case of harrowing sexual abuse
towards a young girl from her father is one of the most courageous and bold moves for a woman poet
in the Contemporary era. As women poets have moved into an era where the confessional style of
poetry is a tool which enables them to speak out about certain subjects that have, in the past, been
deemed as taboo, it is also important to consider the position that it places female poets in. Poet and
critic, Deryn Rees-Jones says The woman who confesses is frequently read as testifying only to her
anguish and her own weakness, she is simply revealing the awfulness of femininity which was
known to be there all along, and which, in the most simplistic terms has led to her oppression in the
first place.
7
by which she is stating that, although it is empowering for female poets to speak out
about the awfulness of femininity it also places them in a position where they are exposing their
weaknesses, whether it be their own or of the entire female gender. Pascale Petit, however, makes it
clear that by producing these poems which confront the sensitive issues that otherwise are overlooked
by society, she is indeed representing those members of society that feel they do not have a voice
saying that when confessional poets remove the mask they speak as societys representative victims
because their personal crises reflect a larger social and cultural breakdown
8

It is Petits bold approach to this confessional style of poetry that has contributed to inspiring
this anthology. The anthology itself aims to, not only showcase some of the most respected and
courageous female poets of the Contemporary era but to also present poems in a way which brings to
light the different stages of emotional and physical turmoil that females may encounter. The first
section, Sex, quickly gives way to Sexual Abuse which in itself is linked to the consequences of
sexual intercourse and also the proceeding sections; Pregnancy, Birth and Motherhood and
Abortion and Miscarriage. Each section enables the reader to delve into the world of women poets,
poets whom strive to provide a voice to the sensitive, raw and at times devastating situations that
would otherwise render women silent. The Sexual Abuse section of the anthology showcases three

6
Siann, Gerda. "Gender, Sex and Sexuality." Google Books. Taylor & Francis, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.
7
Brigley, Zo (2008). Confessing the Secrets of Others: Pascale Petits Poetic Employment of Latin American
Cultures and the Mexican Artist, Frida Kahlo. Journal of International Women's Studies, Page 21.
8
Ibid
of Pascale Petits poems; Black Jaguar at Twilight, Self-Portrait with Fire Ants and The Strait-
Jackets all poems that confront the issue of sexual abuse and how this effects its victims ultimately.
The way the three poems are arranged within the section is deliberate; I intended to portray the three
stages of sexual abuse as they are written by Petit. The first poem, Black Jaguar at Twilight, offers
the reader a detailed and harrowing insight to the sexual abuse itself, with such powerful statements as
my fathers tongue/wet on my neck. The second poem, Self-Portrait with Fire Ants, shows what
seems to be the same woman face to face with her father, the abuser, however being unable to
remember or account what has happened to her. This gives way to the third and, some might say, the
most important stage of the process. The Strait-Jackets shows the father on his death bed, it seems,
and Petit uses metaphorical techniques with hummingbirds representing the thoughts and emotions
contained within her in order to finally confront the issue. It is within this section, Sexual Abuse,
that Petit truly confronts the issue head on whilst simultaneously giving a voice to those that have
experienced similar situations. The subject, sexual abuse, is one of the many sensitive subjects that
have been confronted by female poets during the contemporary era.
The final two sections, Pregnancy, Birth and Motherhood and Abortion and Miscarriage,
are sections which highlight the consequences that can arise from engaging in sexual intercourse and
indeed consequences that immediately and physically effect only women. Both sections include
poems written by Fleur Adcock, Nuala Archer, Pascale Petit, Sharon Olds and Jane Duran. Each
poem offers an insight into the effects that motherhood has on a woman whether it be enduring a
long pregnancy, the act of giving birth or indeed making the decision to end a pregnancy or to have it
ended for you by nature. These subjects are raw and end the anthology in a way that truly epitomises
the reason for female poets to speak out so vigorously. I have ended the collection with Sharon Olds
The Unborn, a poem that shows the intimate and visceral connection held by women to their
offspring even if that offspring has never actually entered the world physically. Olds writes In the
dark, stretching its arms out/Desperately to me., a sentence which highlights the connection between
offspring and their mother. This theme of motherhood, and all that comes with it, that concludes the
collection truly ties up a showcase of situations, emotions and physical effects that women endure and
that these female poets have strived to voice, whilst fighting against the backlash of male criticism.

The Inside Out is effectively a stage a stage for every female poet that has emerged since
the beginning of the Contemporary era, an era which has seen a radical change in the content of
poetry. Now female poets feel able to speak out about the emotional, physical and mental effects that
derive from situations only women can find themselves in. Since the beginning of the Contemporary
era women poets have entered the literary world and given a voice to the most private of subjects,
which otherwise would have remained a taboo and deemed unworthy of media attention by male
critics.




The women who write poetry today reflect many traditions, and they often take their place in
several simultaneously as their poetry refuses the restraints of any bounded tradition.
9
Ultimately it is
this radicalisation of poetry by women that ensures the deserved place of respected and female poets
in the literary world.


9
Cucinella, Catherine. "Contemporary American Women Poets." Google Books. Greenwood Publishing Group,
2002, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2014. Page 17.