Where We Stand: Women Poets on Literary Tradition

by Sharon Bryan (Editor)

“The essays in Where We Stand are utterly absorbing in their clarity, vitality, and variety, reminding us―if we need reminding―of the special vigor that marks the female literary tradition. If you are a woman (whatever you do), if you are a poet (whatever your sex), but especially if you are a woman poet, you’ll find this collection fascinating.” ―Sandra Gilbert Sharon Bryan, poet and editor of River City , wrote to almost eighty women poets asking them how they felt about their particular relationship to literary tradition in her quest to understand and sort out her own confusions on the topic of gender and poetry. This volume of twenty-two essays by women poets is the fruit of that venture. Among topics considered are the childhood experiences that shaped these authors both as writers and as women, to the thoughts on the poets.

Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

Reviews

[Bernadette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ask any female poet whether she considers herself a woman first or a poet first. For some, the answer is a simple one or the other. For others, the question is difficult to answer. And if you ask a female poet how the literary tradition of other female poets has influenced her writing, you’ll get as many different answers as there are poets.

The latter question was posed to 22 contemporary female poets by Sharon Bryan, who compiled the respondents’ essays into the collection Where We Stand: Women Poets on Literary Tradition. This collection of insights into the creative process of these poets proves that you cannot pigeonhole poets based on gender.

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[Erinina Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where We Stand: Women Poets on Literary Tradition ed. by Sharon Bryan

I bought this book for $.50 on the street. It was copywrighted in 1993. If I were a poetry teacher, it would be part of my course syllabus. I think that the discussion that these emminent poets have about our literary tradition, covering all viewpoints is inspiring and educational. While I certainly disagreed with some viewpoints, and while some of the entries were entirely too textbook for poets to be writing, as a female writer, I found it driving me to write and create on a daily basis.