Poetry, Poets, & Poetesses

After Lauren's wonderful presentation on women poets in world literature, I thought that I would post a few links.

Here are some sites that show how literary scholars are reviving the term poetess. A number of these sites are fairly specialized, but this is a "hot" topic, and I think that you'll benefit from seeing how literary studies is changing as I type! (See these sites for more conventional definitions of the term poetess: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetess

http://www.bartleby.com/68/59/4659.html

http://www.cubanow.net/global/loader.php?&secc=7&cont=show.php&item=569).

The first article, "The Poetess in America," is long but begins with a good definition of the term poetess as it is being revived. The author, Annie Finch, is a poet, translator, and literary scholar.

http://www.ablemuse.com/critique/a-finch_poetess.htm

Here is her website at the University of Southern Maine. She also keeps a blog at this site:

http://www.usm.maine.edu/~afinch/

Here is another academic site, The Poetess Archive, that is edited by literary scholar Laura Mandell. It focuses on English-language poets and the scholars who write about them, but it is not limited to 19th century poets. One poet included here is Sylvia Plath, a confessional poet from the 1950s and 1960s.
http://unixgen.muohio.edu/~poetess/index.html

Prof. Mandell defines the poetess tradition in a detailed essay here. As part of her definition, she considers the extent to which this tradition does or does not include political poetry. She also talks about the distinction between "major" and "minor" poetry.

http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2003/v/n29/007712ar.html


But has the term poetess ever really gone away? See these sites.
http://www.etsu.edu/writing/studentsamlit/plath.htm
http://www.utep.edu/rgr/poetry6.html

And here are some sites on one of the poetesses that Lauren mentioned (Ono no Komachi):
http://www.museum.cornell.edu/HFJ/handbook/hb74.html

http://www.washburn.edu/reference/bridge24/Komachi.html

http://www.classical-japanese.net/Poetry/komachi.html

Here the poetess appears on stage:
http://www.callmekomachi.com/
http://www.sonic.net/~tabine/SAApoem_nikki_noh_fall_2005/saa2005aki_noh_sekiderakomachi.html

For more information about the Indian poetess Mirabai and her work:

http://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual/mirabai.html

http://www.poetseers.org/the_poetseers/mirabai/poems/

http://www.poetseers.org/the_poetseers/mirabai/2/
http://www.poetseers.org/the_poetseers/mirabai/poems3/


http://www.vistarfoundation.org/repertoire.html#mirabai

Poetry, Poets, and Poetesses part 2

Despite the picture of Ono no Komachi above (although Jane Hirschfield has translated her work), here are a few links on the poets we saw Monday night (and, in the case of Coleman Banks, will see next Monday):

These sites include a biography of Mary Tall Mountain and examples of some of her works:

http://www.freedomvoices.org/tallmountain/mary.htm

http://www.freedomvoices.org/wolf.htm
http://www.npatterson.net/sara/maryjoe.html

This essay from an Indonesian literary journal includes "Good Grease," one of the poems that Ms. Tall Mountain read in the video:

http://www.angelfire.com/journal/fsulimelight/voice.html


These sites include a brief biography of Jane Hirschfield and examples of some of her poems:

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/563

http://www.slate.com/id/2120051/
http://www.poetseers.org/contemporary_poets/jane_hirshfield/janep/recalling_a...

This review also contains examples of her translation of Ono no Komachi's poetry. (Here Ms. Hirschfield collaborated with Mariko Haritani.)

http://www.poetrylives.com/SimplyHaiku/SHv4n4/reviews/Hirshfield.html

Below are interviews with Ms. Hirschfield:

http://www.poetrylives.com/SimplyHaiku/SHv4n4/features/Hirschfield.html

http://www.bu.edu/agni/interviews-exchanges/online/2006/towler.html

And these are sites with examples of Coleman Barks' translations of Rumi. (Note that he too collaborates with a translator.)

http://peacefulrivers.homestead.com/Rumilove.html

http://www.elsajoy.com/unseenrain.html

http://www.thrasherqawwal.com/rumi.html

Here is the biography from his website:
http://www.colemanbarks.com/

And, finally, here are the lyrics to Richard Thompson's version of "Bonnie St. Johnstone":

http://www.richardthompson-music.com/catch_of_the_day.asp?id=845