16 American Women Poets From Bradstreet to Dove

By Godfrey Maotcha

16 American Women Poets is an outline historical narrative aimed at giving young adult readers an appreciation of contribution made by women poets to American Literature and poetry in particular

• Language: English
• Publisher: Godfrey Maotcha
• Release date: Jun 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223007258

Godfrey Maotcha

Godfrey Mathias Maotcha was born in Blantyre, Malawi. He attended schools in Blantyre and studied Journalism at the Malawi Institute of Journalism, where he got a distinction in Literature,Art and Society. This book was assembled using materials from the local library in Blantyre Malawi mostly donated by then United States Information Service (USIS.  He has worked for Malawi's Montfort Media, The Guardian and The Independent Digest newspaper. Internationally he has contributed to Transcontinental Times of Madrid and Mail and Guardian of South Africa. He also runs a blogspot www.maochagodfreywordpress.com. 

Book preview

16 American Women Poets was first produced in 2005 using materials from the Malawi National Library in Blantyre.

Reference materials especially the World Book Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Brittanica provided a huge chunk of research materials for this work.

Iam indebted to Professor Rita Dove for allowing permission to use her picture and  an extract of 'American Smooth' her poem.

The Division of Rare and Manuscripts Collection at Cornell University Library gave permission to reproduce Laura Riding poems.

The Poetry Foundation for all  extracts, unless indicated.

Preface

Women have made a large contribution to world literature in general and American literature in particular.

Women literature was at a time unaccountable .Paul Later explains about American women writers

‘..Most women writers were ignored as marginal ,yet as one began reading to of American women   writers one discovered works of great power and vitality....*

Thus sketch outline account presents sixteen selected American women poets from the colonial period to the last eight decades of the 20yth century.

I have tried to make brief introductions to the literary period from which they operated.

In this case the term ‘emerge’ means the period which they published their first collection not which they were born .e.g. Phyllis Wheatly was born in 1753(the colonial period) but her first work was published in 1773(the revolutionary period).

Those interested in tracing various literary groups will find groups like New Englanders, African Americans, Imagists, and American Jewish etc.

The term 'selected works' refers to only few important works they published not a full account.

My selection of these women may be viewed as personal, but it is also important to note that I have included women who made American literature a  huge success and meets the number sixteen.

Out of nine authors in the 20th century, six won the Pulitzer Prize since the prize was introduced.

American literature has produced a multitude of women poets, many of whom are not included in this survey but share the same dignity these selected women possess.

*Later P. Heath anthology of American literature. Houghton&Mifflin.1998

Godfrey Maocha  2005 rev. 2023

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