The First Wave: Women Poets in America, 1915-1945

American women poets who came to prominence between 1915 and 1945 did not see themselves as rebels, yeteven though they aimed at achieving the same kind of success as menthis stance itself became a form of political confrontation, according to Drake (Sara Teasdale. For poets like Louise Bogan, Elinor Wylie, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Kay Boyle, modernism was a kind of male-dominated club to which women were seldom admitted. Harriet Monroe spearheaded opposition by women poets to an elitism that was shored up by academic schools of criticism culminating in the “New Criticism.” Drake’s riveting literary history conveys new meaning on these themes by intimately linking women poets’ artistic creativity to their marriages, loves, friendships, careers, aspirations. Anne Spencer’s trailblazing as a black women poet and Babette Deutsch’s political verse provide counterpoint to the personal stories of Amy Lowell, May Sarton, Sara Teasdale, Lola Ridge and others. Photos. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.