I was in a soulsearching mood when I ordered this marathon of poetry by women, quite sure I would find within its 556 pages the dulcet tones and winnowing words of love poems to feed my soul!
| Lonsdale has resurrected more than a hundred witty women and set them glistening and pulsing with life and spirits before us... |
The 323 Poems are arranged chronologically, each with a biography of its author, and appear to have been be selected for their political and social comment, and for their "cleverness" rather than for the lovesick sentiments I had anticipated...
In fact , one at least , The Gentleman's Study,in Answer to(Swift's) The Lady's Dressing Room is startingly horrible, reminding us that these were earthy, somewhat bawdy times, with a use of imagery so repulsive that I was quite nauseated, as the background notes duly advise us:
| The Gentleman's study is not recommended to readers of a nervous disposition. Laetitia Pilkington states that her mother , "upon reading the Lady's Dressing Room, instantly threw up her dinner' and the following rejoinder might well have the same effect. |
The majority of the writers are leisured class and titled ladies, with much irony of the Jane Austen style in evidence, regarding, for example, male opinions of lady poets, or middle and upper class reaction to servants turning their hand to poesy..housemaids writing poetry? What next?
And there are rebellious poems and humble poems; poems that decry woman's lot in life, and poems that claim contentment, poems on the love of children, and mourning the loss of children, poems about marriage, and widowhood, and poems about the single life...
I suppose it must be said that the style of many of the poems is dated, though there is some blank verse in the collection, and some appear too deliberate, too artfully contrived for our modern approach. And if you would look for romantic poetry of the wistful, lovesick kind, this is NOT the anthology for you!
But if you are a searcher for the soul of woman through the ages, if you would look for the brainpower and wit of women, and if you are a student of feminism, this would be a worthwhile addition to your reference shelf.
As The Independent on Sunday summed up:
| .."....sparkling collection of more than 100 witty women..." |
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