Modern Women Poets: Companion anthology to Consorting with Angels

by Deryn Rees-Jones (Editor)

"Modern Women Poets" is the companion anthology to Deryn Rees-Jones's pioneering critical study, "Consorting with Essays on Modern Women Poets". While its selections illuminate and illustrate her essays, Deryn Rees-Jones's superb anthology works in its own right as the best possible introduction to a whole century of poetry by women. The anthology draws together the work of women poets from Britain, Ireland and America as one version of a history of women's poetic writing, while not isolating women's writing from its intersection with the work of male contemporaries. Tracing an arc from Charlotte Mew to Stevie Smith, from Sylvia Plath to the writing emerging from the Women's Movement, and to the more recent work of Medbh McGuckian, Jo Shapcott and Carol Ann Duffy, the anthology draws together the work of women poets from Britain, Ireland and America as one version of a history of women's poetic writing. It shows important connections between the work of women poets and shows how - throughout past 100 years - they have developed strategies for engaging with a male-dominated tradition. "Modern Women Poets" allows the reader to trace women's negotiations with one another's work, as well as to reflect more generally on the politics of women's engagement with history, nature, politics, motherhood, science, religion, the body, sexuality, identity, death, love, and poetry itself.

Genres: Poetry

418 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2006

About the author

Rees-Jones is an Anglo-Welsh poet and professor of poetry at the University of Liverpool. She has a PhD from Birkbeck where she studied women poets. She has published four volumes of poetry. 'Burying the Wren' was a TLS Book of the Year and a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.

Reviews

[Katia M. Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty thorough anthology of female poets, the earliest of whom was born in 1869 and the latest in 1973. Personally, I prefer the poems of the earlier to mid 20th Century. The closer we get to 2000 and beyond, the more of a word salad some things become - not that there's anything wrong with that, people express themselves differently. It's simply a matter of taste on my part. Regardless, I was always able to find something meaningful in each of the poems chosen for this anthology. I attacked it with my pencil, often writing notes in the margins and highlighting phrases I found especially appealing.

The lasting impression I got from this anthology was that lots of women wrote about motherhood and children - that's not something that I have an affinity with at all. I've never had any desire to have children aside from twinges of guilt that I am 'the last of my direct line' - still not anywhere near enough for me to have a baby. I've enough trouble looking after myself. So I couldn't always relate to the poems on a personal level, but could still find beauty in the words.

There was also a lot of struggle here. Struggle to be heard, to be taken seriously, to be cared about. Many of the poems were quite heart-rending.

As always, when there is strife, there is hope, and we also find uplifting words and poems concerning the overcoming of grief and bad situations.

There is also plenty about the beauty of the natural world mixed in with warnings of its dangers.

Overall, this is a great anthology with mixed themes and a broad introduction to female poets of the 20th Century. Each poet has a brief bio before their poems. Some poets only have one or two poems listed, while others may have as many as seven.

I would recommend this book.

[Lenore . · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thinking woman sleeps with monsters.

[Ray Smart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A treasured anthology of the best women's work in the last century. It opens up all the issues of femininity through an eclectic cast of voices. A book that will have blackberry stains and buttery thumb prints on it in a few years from over use.