Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"'A woman who concerns herself with poetry, ' writes Graves in The White Goddess, 'should ... be a silent Muse and inspire the poets by her womanly presence.' If you reverse the traditional genders ... just try to visualize, without snickering, a woman writer at her desk while some hunk of celestial beefcake floats nearby". Are the editors having some fun at men's expense? Somewhat. Will this anthology result in contemporary male and female poets calling a truce? We hope so. Above all, readers will love this first ever collection of female poetic backtalk. Includes Sappho, Bradstreet, Parker, H.D., Bishop, Bogan, Sexton, Olds, Kizer, Hacker, Jong and many more.
Synopsis
This lively anthology of spirited backtalk introduces the "reply poem" - a form in which the female subject of a male poet tells her side of the story. These poems are addressed to every level of the male-dominated poetry canon - from the Bible to Bukowski - and range in tone from wryly amused to fiercely outraged. Contributions to The Muse Strikes Back include work from Akhmatova, Atwood, Bogan, Bradstreet, Finch, H.D., Hacker, Jong, Kizer, Lowell, Olds, Parker, Sappho, and Sexton. The anthology includes a bibliography, indexes of contributing poets, the male poets addressed, and the titles and first lines. The anthology is designed to be of use to students as well as the general reading public, with footnotes provided for easy reference.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-298) and indexes.