10 Female Poets Who Are Far Superior To Adrienne Rich
Submitted by kbloom on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 10:02
Tags:
- 10) Elizabeth Bishop
- 9) Maxine Kumin
- 8) Gertrude Stein
- 7) H.D.
- 6) Anne Sexton
- 5) Gwendolyn Brooks
- 4) Sylvia Plath
- 3) Audre Lorde
- 2) Emily Dickinson
- 1) Marianne Moore
Author Comments:
Many notables left off this list. (Did I get Kumin's name right?) Marianne Moore has more poetic ability in her little finger than Adrienne Rich possessed in her entire, irritating, unbearably long career.
Uh, sure, alright.
I'd agree on some of these and disagree on others. I believe Rich is wonderful, but she certainly wasn't always wonderful. Her later poetry in particular became quite didactic and 'preachy,' but her early poems are marvelous and could easily crush most of Bishop or Stein's work. Plath is indeed marvelous. At least you didn't list Louise Gluk (or however you spell her last name)...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I tend to find I like Adrienne Rich as a person, that is I like her prose, and I like articles about her life-- and while I feel I should like her poems, something in them doesn't speak to me. I don't really, however, see that as a slur on her poetic ability. I just don't happen to connect with her. Like Mr. Bangs, I can agree with some on your list, and disagree with others. I love Plath, Sexton, Bishop, Dickenson. I can live without Marianne Moore, but as with Rich, I don't believe that this means that she is a bad poet. I also like, old fashioned as this may be, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Anne Bradstreet and quite a bit of Christina Rossetti. I also like Margaret Atwood and Marge Piercy in the "modern" group.
Thanks for the list! Its nice to have more people to read (I'm not familiar with Bishop, Kumin or Lorde's works) :)
Dorothy Parker...her stuff was very witty and biting. Quite sassy...too bad the likes of her and Sylvia Plath left us so soon.