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This wonderfully sharp and witty collection of poems - feisty, bawdy, erotic, irreverent - is an illuminating comment on women's ability to transform poetry into a medium of subversiveness. There are jibes at hypocrisy and prejudice, plenty of sexiness and sauciness, and a riotous turning of the 'Lady Poet' image on its head. ('A fallinf leaf could stir her. / A wilting, dying rose / would make her write, both day and night, / the most rewarding prose. / She'd find a hidden meaning / in every pair of pants / then hurry home to be alone / and write about romance' - Maya Angelou). With poets spanning continents and centuries, this anthology demonstrates lavishly the myriad ways in which women can be 'wicked' - by their definition - and wilfully so! Poems by: Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, Aphra Behn, Nina Cassian, Emily Dickinson, Carol Ann Duffy, Lorna Goodison, Jackie Kay, Liz Lochead, Suniti Namjoshi, Grace Nichols, Dorothy Parker, Fiona Pitt-Kethley, Izumi Shikibu, Stevie Smith, Anna Wickham and many more.… (más)
The fact that men write about love, sex and eroticism is self-evident, but perhaps it is still a taboo for women to do the same. The title of The Virago book of wicked verse suggests that this anthology is a compilation of naughty poems, but in fact, it is nothing but a very tame collection of poetry.
As can be expected, the quality of an anthology is reflected by the ability of the anthologist to make an interesting selection. In her short introduction, Dawson writes that looking for wicked, "roguish" poetry she was steered away from the type of poetry women are traditionally expected to write, about love, nature, the hearth, children and women waiting for soldiers to return. This characterization already shows that Dawson, although this might be true for traditional poetry, has a very tainted view of poetry by women. Throughout the anthology, the reader keeps wondering with what authority Dawson has made her choices. Is she really knowledgeable in the area of poetry by women?
How else is it possible that The Virago book of wicked verse, in more than 170 pages, contains hardly any interesting poem. Although some of the poets are well-known, many female poets athologised here are utterly unknown or have already been forgotten. The anthology was first published in 1992, when Dawson was just a beginning author, which may explain the inclusion of many poets from the 1970s and 80s, who are now obscure. In fact, Dawson herself is a bit obscure, and barely a presence in the literary world.
It is possible that female readers find this selection exciting, possibly some of those women who are waiting for soldiers to return. ( )
This wonderfully sharp and witty collection of poems - feisty, bawdy, erotic, irreverent - is an illuminating comment on women's ability to transform poetry into a medium of subversiveness. There are jibes at hypocrisy and prejudice, plenty of sexiness and sauciness, and a riotous turning of the 'Lady Poet' image on its head. ('A fallinf leaf could stir her. / A wilting, dying rose / would make her write, both day and night, / the most rewarding prose. / She'd find a hidden meaning / in every pair of pants / then hurry home to be alone / and write about romance' - Maya Angelou). With poets spanning continents and centuries, this anthology demonstrates lavishly the myriad ways in which women can be 'wicked' - by their definition - and wilfully so! Poems by: Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, Aphra Behn, Nina Cassian, Emily Dickinson, Carol Ann Duffy, Lorna Goodison, Jackie Kay, Liz Lochead, Suniti Namjoshi, Grace Nichols, Dorothy Parker, Fiona Pitt-Kethley, Izumi Shikibu, Stevie Smith, Anna Wickham and many more.
As can be expected, the quality of an anthology is reflected by the ability of the anthologist to make an interesting selection. In her short introduction, Dawson writes that looking for wicked, "roguish" poetry she was steered away from the type of poetry women are traditionally expected to write, about love, nature, the hearth, children and women waiting for soldiers to return. This characterization already shows that Dawson, although this might be true for traditional poetry, has a very tainted view of poetry by women. Throughout the anthology, the reader keeps wondering with what authority Dawson has made her choices. Is she really knowledgeable in the area of poetry by women?
How else is it possible that The Virago book of wicked verse, in more than 170 pages, contains hardly any interesting poem. Although some of the poets are well-known, many female poets athologised here are utterly unknown or have already been forgotten. The anthology was first published in 1992, when Dawson was just a beginning author, which may explain the inclusion of many poets from the 1970s and 80s, who are now obscure. In fact, Dawson herself is a bit obscure, and barely a presence in the literary world.
It is possible that female readers find this selection exciting, possibly some of those women who are waiting for soldiers to return. ( )