A Study Guide for Kathleen Fraser's "Poem in Which My Legs Are Accepted"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Kathleen Fraser's "Poem in Which My Legs Are Accepted," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535831000

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Poem in Which My Legs Are Accepted

Kathleen Fraser

1968

Introduction

Kathleen Fraser's Poem in Which My Legs Are Accepted was first published in 1968 in The Young American Poets, an anthology edited by Paul Carroll. It is one of Fraser's early poems, appearing in print only two years after her first volume of verse, Change of Address, and Other Poems (1966). She later included this poem in her book of collected and new poetry What I Want (1974), which is still available. Poem in Which My Legs Are Accepted was reprinted in the anthology In Her Own Image: Women Working in the Arts (1980), which is also still available.

Poem in Which My Legs Are Accepted is about growth: from adolescence to womanhood, from awkward embarrassment over the flaws of one's body to confidence and acceptance. Fraser's long career as an experimental and feminist poet spans more than forty years. Poem in Which My Legs Are Accepted is less experimental in form than Fraser's later work, focusing instead on the intimate and important theme of loving one's body.

Author Biography

Kathleen Joy Fraser was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 22, 1935 (some sources say 1937), to Marjorie (Axtell) Fraser and James Fraser II. She was the eldest of four siblings. Fraser inherited a love of words and language from her father, who often recited nonsense verse and sang silly songs. She majored first in philosophy and then in English literature at Occidental College in California, graduating with a bachelor's degree in