Sixty Women Poets

by Linda France

A Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. This anthology charts the irrepressible growth and flowering of women's poetry in Britain and Ireland from the early 1970s to the 90s. Included are many distinctive female voices, no longer apologetic, but courageous, confident, and powerful voices of Eavan Boland, Eiléan Ni Chuilleanáin, Freda Downie, Carol Ann Duffy, U.A. Fanthorpe, Rita Ann Higgins, Kathleen Jamie, Elizabeth Jennings, Jenny Joseph, Jackie Kay, Medbh McGuckian, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Ruth Padel, Ruth Pitter, Deborah Randall, Carol Rumens, E.J. Scovell, Anne Stevenson, and many others. ""Admirable in breadth and scope"" - Booklist.

Genres: Poetry, Womens, Feminism

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1994

Reviews

[Zanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I said I'd take this book to a desert island before I'd read it
turns out I'd spoken prophecy
All my life I thought poets I could love were scarce
I felt nothing
for Blake, Wordsworth, Milton
hated all but a handful of the sonnets but didn't give in
patiently opening books, picking gold dust out of the mire of my indifference
Anyway I was wrong I was wrong
I am not afraid now of shipwreck. What a guru I'd be studying this
universe of elegies, verse free and open like my island house, ground shifting like unbounded ocean
Sunburned yogi declaiming Feaver's Marigolds and again and again then rolling on the sand naked mouth open insane
with ecstasy of solitude
but never alone again
with my sixty sisters
Hair long, salt-matted
Skin brown, smeared with gritty coconut and spiny aloe
Mermaid
Witch. Finally human. I am never coming home.
I can sob myself hoarse here as well as anywhere and squint until myopia shapes the Moon
My mother? She'll hear me reading aloud in my dreams, say darling it's beautiful
We have arrived at London Paddington
Please take
ALL of your belongings with you
When you leave

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a brilliant way of organising an anthology; some big, well-known poets like Wendy Cope & Jo Shapcott, others you would only find out about through a book like this, all arranged alphabetically so you can pick out similarities and themes yourself as you’re reading. couldn’t recommend this collection enough

[Neil Fulwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I wouldn’t argue with any of the choices made for this anthology, there seems to be a randomness to it. Even the arrangement of contributors in alphabetical order by surname seems less the logical option than an easy alternative. No dialogue emerges between the poets or the work on offer. The space allocated to each poet seems random, too; why does Freda Downie only get three pages while Carol Rumens hogs six? Often, the sampling of work doesn’t seem expansive enough. A larger selection from, say, 25 poets would have made for a more cohesive anthology. Still, the work is uniformly impressive and I made particular discoveries in Eiléan Ni Chuilleanáin and Grace Nichols.

[Sylvia Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

As one of our morning poetry shared readings this has been a adventure, some we loved, some less so, some accessable, others not sure but any poetry to start the day must surely be a wonderful gift to each other and reading poetry is always a wonderfu lway of expanding a view of life and its complexities. on to our next poet

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

as someone who doesn’t know too much about poetry and mainly only studied male poets in british secondary school (2010s), it was a good way to get acquainted with prominent female poets across britain and ireland. while i did find some of the poets very pretentious or not to my tastes, i did really enjoy a lot of them, including a lot of ones who come from very different backgrounds to myself.

[Susan Peak · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good selection of poets, could have done with more commentary though the introduction is good and there are summary bios of the poets.

[Pollytipsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

very good