A Womans Struggle Women Poets

By: China Hughes

Introduction

Throughout history women have had to face certain challenges when it comes to their roles in society, culture, and their personal lives. The women poets featured in this book have more than put women on the map when it comes to women in literature or any other art forms. Some of these women have not become known until their deaths but they are still respected. Others are known and are pioneers in literary magnitude. Every one of these women had to face challenges but they continue to represent women and show that it does not matter what happens in your life, you can achieve greatness.

Table of Contents
The Angelo Norman Period

Renaissance Period The Restoration and 18th Century

Victorian Period The 20th Century

Contemporary Poetry

Maya Angelou
When I was young, I used to Watch behind the curtains As men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old men. Young men sharp as mustard. See them. Men are always Going somewhere. They knew I was there. Fifteen Years old and starving for them. Under my window, they would pauses, Their shoulders high like the Breasts of a young girl, Jacket tails slapping over Those behinds, Men. One day they hold you in the Palms of their hands, gentle, as if you Were the last raw egg in the world. Then They tighten up. Just a little. The First squeeze is nice. A quick hug. Soft into your defenselessness. A little More. The hurt begins. Wrench out a Smile that slides around the fear. When the Air disappears, Your mind pops, exploding fiercely, briefly, Like the head of a kitchen match. Shattered. It is your juice That runs down their legs. Staining their shoes. When the earth rights itself again, And taste tries to return to the tongue, Your body has slammed shut. Forever. No keys exist. Then the window draws full upon Your mind. There, just beyond The sway of curtains, men walk. Knowing something. Going someplace. But this time, I will simply Stand and watch. Maybe.

Maya Angelou is a remarkable renaissance woman who is hailed as one of the great voices of contemporary literature. She was born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture. She is one of the first African American women who were able to publicly discuss her personal life which she did in her autobiography I know why a caged bird sings. Up to that point most black female writers were marginalized to the point that they were unable to present themselves as central characters. She is recognized and highly respected as a spokesperson for blacks and women. Her books are centered on themes such as identity, family, and racism. These are the things that make her works so powerful.

Nikki Giovanni
childhood remembrances are always a drag if youre Black you always remember things like living in Woodlawn with no inside toilet and if you become famous or something they never talk about how happy you were to have your mother all to yourself and how good the water felt when you got your bath from one of those big tubs that folk in chicago barbecue in and somehow when you talk about home it never gets across how much you understood their feelings as the whole family attended meetings about Hollydale and even though you remember your biographers never understand your fathers pain as he sells his stock and another dream goes and though youre poor it isnt poverty that concerns you and though they fought a lot it isnt your fathers drinking that makes any difference but only that everybody is together and you and your sister have happy birthdays and very good christmases and I really hope no white person ever has cause to write about me because they never understand Black love is

Black wealth and theyll probably talk about my hard childhood and never understand that all the while I was quite happy

Yolanda Cornelia better known as Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 7, 1943. She is a world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. She remains as determined and committed as ever to fight for civil rights and equality. Because she is always insisting on presenting the truth as she sees it, she has maintained a prominent place as a strong voice of the Black community. Her focus is on the individual, specifically, on the power one has to make a difference in oneself, and in the lives of others

Sonia Sanchez
nothing will keep us young you know not young men or women who spin their youth on cool playing sounds. we are what we are what we never think we are. no more wild geo graphies of the flesh. echoes. that we move in tune to slower smells. it is a hard thing to admit that sometimes after midnight i am tired of it all.

Sonia Sanchez was born on September 9, 1934 in Birmingham, Alabama. During the early 1960s she was an integrationist, supporting the philosophy of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). After considering the ideas of Black Muslim leader Malcolm X, who believed blacks would never be truly accepted by whites in the United States, she decided to focus more on her black heritage from a separatist point of view. In 1971, she joined the Nation of Islam, but by 1976 she had left the nation, largely because of its repression of women. Most of her poems are based on these things.

Emily Dickinson
THE SOUL selects her own society, Then shuts the door; On her divine majority Obtrude no more. Unmoved, she notes the chariots pausing At her low gate; Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling Upon her mat. I ve known her from an ample nation Choose one; Then close the valves of her attention Like stone.

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830. Throughout her life, she rarely left her house and visitors were scarce. The people with whom she did come in contact, however, had an enormous impact on her thoughts and poetry. By the 1860s she lived in almost total physical isolation from the outside world, but actively maintained many correspondences and read widely. She spent a great deal of this time with her family. Her poetry reflects her loneliness and the speakers of her poems generally live in a state of want. Her poems are also marked by the intimate recollection of inspirational moments which are decidedly life-giving and suggest the possibility of happiness. Her work was heavily influenced by the metaphysical poets of the seventeenth-century England.

Marie de France
The adventure of my next tale The Bretons made into a lai Called Laustic, Ive heard them say, In Brittany; in France they call The laustic a rossignol And in good English, nightingale Near St. Malo there was a town (Somewhere thereabouts) of great renown. Two knights lived there, no lowly vassals, In house that were built like castles. These barons were so good, their fame Gave their village goodnesss own name. One of them had married lately: Polite and polished, such a lady! She was wise to her own worth (Normal in ladies of high birth) The other lord was a bachelor, Famed for prowess and for valor, Loved by all, for he knew how to live: Joust a lot, spend a lot, what you have give Away freely. He loved the wife of his neighbor He begged so much, and prayed yet more And goodness was his striking future So she loved him more than any creature Because of the deeds he was famous for, And because he lived in the castle next door. I Wisely and well they loved, these lovers: They guarded their love under various covers And hid it from general sight.

Marie de France was a medieval poet who was born in France and lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an undisclosed court, but was almost certainly at least known about at the royal court of King Henry II of England. Virtually nothing is known of her life. Both her name and its geographical specification come from her manuscripts, though one contemporary reference to her work and popularity remains. Marie de France wrote a form of Anglo-Norman French, and was evidently proficient in Latin and English as well. She is the author of Lais of Marie de France. She translated Aesops Fables from Middle English into Anglo-Norman French and wrote Espurgatorie seint Partiz, Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick, based upon a Latin text. Recently she has been identified as the author of a saints life, The Life of Saint Audrey. Her Lais in particular were and still are widely read, and influenced the subsequent development of the romance genre.

Christine de Pizan
I wish to tell my history, Twill seem to some pure mystery But even though they wont believe, Ill tell the truth and wont deceive. It all happened to me, really; I was twenty-five, or nearly, It was no dream when it occurred, No need to evoke the absurd When one has seen what I have seen, These wonders that have really been, That we do not see everyday Because the fortunes clever way, Of disguising her mutations, Those deceptive situations Which I hope to unveil here Before my discourse grows in size, Let me summarize, this moment, How I, a woman, became a man by a flick of fortunes hand How she changed my bodys form The perfect masculine norm. Im a man, no truth Im hiding And if I was a female beforeIts the truth and nothing more It seem Ill just have to re-create Just how I did transmutate From a woman to a male: I think the tile of my tale Is, if Im not being importune

Christine de Pizan was able to become successful in a time when women had no legal rights and were considered their fathers or husbands property. Her life was a product of the fortunes and misfortunes she endured. She was the daughter of an educated physician. He allowed Christine to get an education similar to the boys to that of her age. Paris proved to provide the perfect backdrop for Christine to learn classical languages, history, literature, and religion. Her father encouraged her education, her mother disapproved because it was unlady like. Christines father had passed away in 1387. This tragedy set the way for Christines literary career. There was no man of the house, so Christine had to take the responsibility for providing for the family. As herself later explains in the Mutation of Fortune, she had to become a man, so that she could take on the responsibilities of a man in a mans world.

Rachel Speght
Rachel Speght was born in 1597. She was a poet and a polemicist. She was the first Englishwoman to identify herself, by name, as a polemicist and critic of gender ideology. She was a feminist and a Calvinist. She is perhaps best known for her tract A Mouzell for Melastomus (London, 1617). It is a prose refutation of Joseph Swetnams misogynistic tract. The Arraignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women, and a significant contribution to the protestant discourse of biblical exegesis, defending womens nature and the worth of womankind. She also published a volume of poetry, Mortalities Memorandum with a Dreame Prefixed which was a Christian reflection on death and a defense of the education of women.

For man was created of the dust of the earth, but woman was made of a part of man, after that he was a living soul: yet was not produced of Adams foot, to be his too low inferior; nor from his head to be his superior, but from his side, near his heart, to be his equal; that where he is Lord, she may be lady. Rachel Speght

Ann Taylor
Go, go, my naughty girl, and kiss Your little sister dear; I must not have such things as this, And noisy quarrels here. What! little children scratch and fight, That ought to be so mild; Oh! Mary, it's a shocking sight To see an angry child. I can't imagine, for my part, The reason for your folly; She did not do you any hurt By playing with your dolly. See, see, the little tears that run Fast from her watery eye: Come, my sweet innocent, have done, 'Twill do no good to cry. Go, Mary, wipe her tears away, And make it up with kisses: And never turn a pretty play To such a pet as this is.

Ann Taylor was born in London on January 30, 1784. In addition to contributing hymns to the joint works of herself and her sister a few of her poems were given in Collyers Collection 1812 which she signed A. or A.T. In literary excellence her hymns surpass those of her sister. They are more elevated in style, ornate in character, broader in grasp and better adapted for adults. Her hymns are marked by great simplicity and directness. Taken as a whole, the hymns of both sisters are somewhat depressing in tone.

Jane Austen
I've a pain in my head' Said the suffering Beckford; To her Doctor so dread. 'Oh! what shall I take for't?' Said this Doctor so dread Whose name it was Newnham. 'For this pain in your head Ah! What can you do Ma'am?' Said Miss Beckford, 'Suppose If you think there's no risk, I take a good Dose Of calomel brisk.'-'What a praise worthy Notion.' Replied Mr. Newnham. 'You shall have such a potion And so will I too Ma'am.'

Jane Austen was born December 16, 1775 in Hampshire, England. She did a fair amount of reading, of both the serious and the popular literature of the day. In addition to her literary work, she often visited her brothers and their families and other relatives and friends. And they sometimes came to Southampton or Chawton where she spent most of her time. She had a reputation for being able to keep young children entertained. Thats why her work was popular at the time.

Gertrude Stein
In between a place and candy is a narrow foot-path that shows more mounting than anything, so much really that a calling meaning a bolster measured a whole thing with that. A virgin a whole virgin is judged made and so between curves and outlines and real seasons and more out glasses and a perfectly unprecedented arrangement between old ladies and mild colds there is no satin wood shining.

Gertrude Stein was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania on February 3, 1874. In 1903 she moved to Paris with her partner Alice B. Toklas. The couple did not return to the United States for over thirty years. She was a passionate advocate for the "new" in art. By 1913 her support of cubist painters and her increasingly avant-garde writing caused a split with her brother Leo who she had done a lot of collaborating with in her writings. Art had a profound effect on her but in a literary way.

Alice Walker
They who feel death close as a breath Speak loudly in unlighted rooms Lounge upright in articulate gesture Before the herd of jealous Gods

Fate finds them receiving At home.

Grim the warrior forest who present Casual silence with casual battle cries Or stand unflinchingly lodged

In common sand Crucified.

Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia. Alice Walker was active in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960'sand today she is still an involved activist. She has spoken for the women's movement, the anti-apartheid movement, for the anti-nuclear movement, and against female genital mutilation. Her works are very big on what going on in society. She does a lot with womens empowerment and also the empowerment of African Americans. Her works are some of the most popular still to this day.

Gwendolyn Brooks
They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair. Dinner is a casual affair. Plain chip ware on a plain and creaking wood, Tin flatware. Two who are Mostly Good. Two who have lived their day, But keep on putting on their clothes And putting things away. And remembering . . . Remembering, with twinklings and twinges, As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths, tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.

Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1917. She was a highly regarded, muchhonored poet. She was the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize. Many of her works displayed a political consciousness, especially those from the 1960s and later, with several of her poems reflecting the civil rights activism of that period. Not only has she combined a strong commitment to racial identity and equality with a mastery of poetic techniques, but she has also managed to bridge the gap between the academic poets of her generation in the 1940s and the young black militant writers of the 1960s. She was truly a literary pioneer.

China Hughes
Wanted to write a poem I am a writer it is my craft But the sadness engulfed me And the tears smeared the blue ink leaving my journal blurred - like one's heart when a lover bids his last goodbye. And so against my will my mind traveled to Family - my friends the world who I long to give something substantial some hope - some faith - some dream they can call their own... I'll do it - or die trying... Then my thoughts shifted to loss, forgiveness, and redemption. Wonder if 12 days were enough to remedy 18 years... Guess I'll find out when he and I meet again. Finally, I thought of the man in the blue suit whose eyes invited me to love him and whose actions said to leave to run - to run away fast... I did And yet he still carries my heart in his back pocket And I wear him on the front of my sleeve. I wanted to write a poem but I suppose the ink spots will suffice in telling a greater story than my words ever could

My name is China Hughes. I was born in Savanna, Georgia on June 14, 1993. I soon moved to Newark, NJ at the age of 2. I have been here ever since. I started writing poetry in the 7th grade just for fun because it was something I liked to do. By the time I got to high school I was writing a lot more and people were encouraging me to start taking writing seriously. But at the time poetry was not my main focus; sports were so I kept writing for fun. When my dad died I went into a dark place and I felt like no one understood me so I wrote. I believe that how I made it through that period of time. By my junior year in high school Newark was getting bad and a lot of my friends were dying so I started writing about that. I mostly finding myself writing about the things that take place where I live, or my personal life because those things have the most profound effect on my life. One day I hope to be as influential as the other women I put in this book because women need to keep being empowered and being told they can do anything they put their minds to.

References http://www.enotes.com/topics/women-poets - Women Poets: Gives an introduction of women poets. They give you a list of the poets and you click on the poet you want and it examines the poet, their writings and their influences. http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Sisters-Literary-History-Discord/dp/019507212X - Book: The Wicked Sisters Women Poets, Literary History, and Discord. Features 5 women artist in this book and discusses their lives, their work, and their influences. This provocative study of the lives and works of Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, Adrienne Rich, and Gwendolyn Brooks focuses on the historical struggles and differences among and within women writers and among feminists themselves. Erkkila explores the troubled relations women writers experienced with both masculine and feminine literary cultures, arguing that popular feminist views often romanticize and maternalize women writers and their interrelations in ways that effectively reinforce the very gender stereotypes and polarities which initially grounded women's oppression. Studying the multiple race, class, ethnic, cultural, and other locations of women within a particular social field, Erkkila offers a revisionary model of women's literary history that challenges recent feminist theory and practice along with many of our fundamental assumptions about the woman writer, women's writing, and women's literary history. In contrast to the tendency of earlier feminists to heroize literary foremothers and communities of women, Erkkila focuses on the historical struggles and conflicts that make up the history of women poets. Without discounting the historical power of sisterhood, she seeks to reclaim women's literary history as a site of contention, contingency, and ongoing struggle, rather than a separate space of untroubled and essentially cooperative accord among women. Encompassing the various historical significations of "wickedness" as destructive, powerful, playful, witty, mischievous, and not righteous, The Wicked Sisters explores the power struggles and discord that mark both the history of women poets and the history of feminist criticism. Author: Betsy Erkkila http://womenshistory.about.com/od/writers19th/Women_Writers_19th_Century.htm - Women writers of nineteenth century history (including the Victorian era): women who have made an impact through their fiction or journalism or poetry. Includes list of women poets. http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/contemporary/contemporary_women_poets.html - A list of contemporary women poets, people who brings something new to the poetry, which may be famous or beginning poets. http://digital.lib.ucdavis.edu/projects/bwrp/ - British Women Romantic Poets, 1789 1832 - British Women Romantic Poets in the Kohler Collection http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/samuel.htm

Deferred Dreams: The Voice of African American Women's Poetry since the 1970s. African-American women writers are now regarded as among the best of modern American poets. Their poetry is as very often celebratory of a life that, despite its hardships and injustice, was often happy. Their poetry not only expresses criticism of discrimination and injustice but also expresses a culture to celebrate.

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7818.html - After Every War: Twentieth-Century Women Poets Eavan Boland - They are nine women with much in common--all German speaking, all poets, all personal witnesses to the horror and devastation that was World War II. Yet, in this deeply moving collection, each provides a singularly personal glimpse into the effects of war on language, place, poetry, and womanhood. - After Every War is a book of translations of women poets living in Europe in the decades before and after World War II: Rose Auslnder, Elisabeth Langgsser, Nelly Sachs, Gertrud Kolmar, Else Lasker-Schler, Ingeborg Bachmann, Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Dagmar Nick, and Hilde Domin. Several of the writers are Jewish and, therefore, also witnesses and participants in one of the darkest occasions of human cruelty, the Holocaust. Their poems, as well as those of the other writers, provide a unique biography of the time--but with a difference. These poets see public events through the lens of deep private losses. They chart the small occasions, the bittersweet family ties, the fruit dish on a table, the lost soul arriving at a railway station; in other words, the sheer ordinariness through which cataclysm is experienced, and by which life is cruelly shattered. They reclaim these moments and draw the reader into them. http://www.poetseers.org/the_great_poets/female_poets/ A list of female poets from the 20th Century and some that are not