What do you think?
The Voice of the Poet
The Voice of the Poet: Five American Women: Gertrude Stein, Edna St. Vincent Millay, H.D., Louise Bogan & Muriel Rukeyser
An Anthology of Women Poets that includes: Gertrude Stein, Edna St. Vincent Millay, H.D., Louise Bogen, and Muriel Rukeyser.
Each audio production is accompanied by a book containing the text of the poems and a commentary by J.D. McClatchy.
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) After attending Radcliffe College, Gertrude Stein lived abroad, mostly in Paris, for the rest of her life. Her home became a cultural salon for writers and artists. Even among Cubist painters who were her friends, her work stands out for its boldness and invention. She turned English on its head with results both witty and enigmatic. In addition to her poetry she wrote novels, memoirs, history, and libretti.
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) was born in Rockland, Maine to her self-sufficient single mother and three sisters. At her mother’s urging, she entered her poem “Renascence” into a contest: she won fourth place bringing her immediate acclaim and scholarship to Vassar.
While there she continued to write poetry and became involved in the theater. In 1917, Millay published her first book, Renascence and Other Poems. At the request of Vassar’s drama department, she wrote her first verse play, The Lamp and the Bell in 1921.
Millay moved to New York’s Greenwich Village, where she led a notoriously bohemian life. In 1920 she published A Few Figs from Thistles, a volume of poetry which drew much attention for its controversial descriptions of female sexuality and feminism. Her fourth volume of poetry The Harp Weaver (1921) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
Millay married Eugen Boissevain in 1923. Their marriage ended in 1949 with Boissevain’s death. Edna St. Vincent Millay died in 1950 of heart failure.
H.D. (1886-1961) was born Hilda Doolittle in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She attended Bryn Mawr as a classmate of Marianne Moore, and later the University of Pennsylvania where she befriended Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. In 1911, she traveled to Europe intending only to stay for a summer, but remained abroad for the rest of her life. Through Pound, she grew interested in and quickly became the leader of the Imagist movement. Some of her earliest poems gained recognition when they were published by Harriet Monroe in Poetry.
Her work is characterized by the intense strength and intensity of her images, economy of language, and use of classical mythology. Her poems did not receive widespread recognition due in part to the limits of being associated with the Imagist movement, as well as her feminist principles, which were not readily acceptable at the time. She died in 1961.
Louise Bogen
Muriel Rukeyser
Each audio production is accompanied by a book containing the text of the poems and a commentary by J.D. McClatchy.
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) After attending Radcliffe College, Gertrude Stein lived abroad, mostly in Paris, for the rest of her life. Her home became a cultural salon for writers and artists. Even among Cubist painters who were her friends, her work stands out for its boldness and invention. She turned English on its head with results both witty and enigmatic. In addition to her poetry she wrote novels, memoirs, history, and libretti.
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) was born in Rockland, Maine to her self-sufficient single mother and three sisters. At her mother’s urging, she entered her poem “Renascence” into a contest: she won fourth place bringing her immediate acclaim and scholarship to Vassar.
While there she continued to write poetry and became involved in the theater. In 1917, Millay published her first book, Renascence and Other Poems. At the request of Vassar’s drama department, she wrote her first verse play, The Lamp and the Bell in 1921.
Millay moved to New York’s Greenwich Village, where she led a notoriously bohemian life. In 1920 she published A Few Figs from Thistles, a volume of poetry which drew much attention for its controversial descriptions of female sexuality and feminism. Her fourth volume of poetry The Harp Weaver (1921) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
Millay married Eugen Boissevain in 1923. Their marriage ended in 1949 with Boissevain’s death. Edna St. Vincent Millay died in 1950 of heart failure.
H.D. (1886-1961) was born Hilda Doolittle in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She attended Bryn Mawr as a classmate of Marianne Moore, and later the University of Pennsylvania where she befriended Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. In 1911, she traveled to Europe intending only to stay for a summer, but remained abroad for the rest of her life. Through Pound, she grew interested in and quickly became the leader of the Imagist movement. Some of her earliest poems gained recognition when they were published by Harriet Monroe in Poetry.
Her work is characterized by the intense strength and intensity of her images, economy of language, and use of classical mythology. Her poems did not receive widespread recognition due in part to the limits of being associated with the Imagist movement, as well as her feminist principles, which were not readily acceptable at the time. She died in 1961.
Louise Bogen
Muriel Rukeyser
- GenresPoetry
Audio Cassette
First published March 20, 2001
About the author
J.D. McClatchy
103 books37 followersMcClatchy is an adjunct professor at Yale University and editor of the Yale Review. He also edits the "Voice of the Poet" series for Random House AudioBooks.
His book Hazmat (Alfred A. Knopf, 2002) was nominated for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize. He has written texts for musical settings, including eight opera libretti, for such composers as Elliot Goldenthal, Daron Hagen, Lowell Liebermann, Lorin Maazel, Tobias Picker, Ned Rorem, Bruce Saylor, and William Schuman. His honors include an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1991). He has also been one of the New York Public Literary Lions, and received the 2000 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award.
In 1999, he was elected into the membership of The American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in January 2009 he was elected president. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (1987), the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Academy of American Poets (1991). He served as Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1996 until 2003. (Wikipedia)
His book Hazmat (Alfred A. Knopf, 2002) was nominated for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize. He has written texts for musical settings, including eight opera libretti, for such composers as Elliot Goldenthal, Daron Hagen, Lowell Liebermann, Lorin Maazel, Tobias Picker, Ned Rorem, Bruce Saylor, and William Schuman. His honors include an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1991). He has also been one of the New York Public Literary Lions, and received the 2000 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award.
In 1999, he was elected into the membership of The American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in January 2009 he was elected president. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (1987), the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Academy of American Poets (1991). He served as Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1996 until 2003. (Wikipedia)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 13, 2024
Better than I thought it would be. I came away with more positive feelings about Gertrude Stein, Louise Bogan, and Muriel Rukeyser. I liked Millay already. Disappointed in H. D.
September 7, 2020
These poets are so marvelously different from one another. Louise Bogan reads her formidable work with an elegant accent, where Muriel Rukeyser reads her, often humorous poetry in an offhand manner to great effect.
August 18, 2021
Love this. Autographs on the book cover by all five women. Audiotape of them reading their poems. One of my favorite!
August 11, 2013
A rare chance to hear these poets speaking their words. All but Rukeyser speak with strangely archaic inflection, the patrician, enunciated and dramatic tones of old-time movie stars. It takes a bit to warm to.
It's an intimate experience to hear the voice of a long-dead poet whose work you have only ever read. I also enjoyed getting acquainted with new poets, especially Louise Bogan. Their similarities allow these authors (of roughly the same generation) to be considered as a group.
It's an intimate experience to hear the voice of a long-dead poet whose work you have only ever read. I also enjoyed getting acquainted with new poets, especially Louise Bogan. Their similarities allow these authors (of roughly the same generation) to be considered as a group.
December 22, 2011
i love this book! i like how Ashton Gray was in well wtiten.this the best book i ever read. I reccomned this book the anyone that likes to read about gossip and love.:)
July 29, 2007
Excellent. Louise Bogan is on here.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews