MotherSongs: Poems for, by, and About Mothers

by Sandra M. Gilbert (Editor), Susan Gubar (Editor), Diana O'Hehir (Editor)

The editors have included traditional ballads about maternity and courtly elegies for or by mothers as well as landmark nineteenth-century tributes to mothers and early twentieth-century meditations on motherhood.

MotherSongs opens with poems about pregnancy, labor, delivery, and nursing and moves to poems about women raising children, delighting in their growth, or mourning their loss. The volume then turns to poems by sons and daughters who "remember mama."


Mythic mothers and mother goddesses, moral or political reflections on maternity, and philosophical analyses of the meaning of motherhood are also represented. Taken together, the works collected here bear witness to the powerful ways in which motherhood has been transformed into art and artistry has been shaped by maternity.

Genres: Poetry

384 pages, Hardcover

First published May 17, 1995

About the author

Sandra M. Gilbert was an American literary critic and poet who published in the fields of feminist literary criticism, feminist theory, and psychoanalytic criticism. She was best known for her collaborative critical work with Susan Gubar, with whom she co-authored, among other works, The Madwoman in the Attic (1979). Madwoman in the Attic is widely recognized as a text central to second-wave feminism. She was Professor Emerita of English at the University of California, Davis.
Gilbert lived in Berkeley, California, and lived, until 2008, in Paris, France. Her husband, Elliot L. Gilbert, was chair of the Department of English at University of California, Davis, until his death in 1991. She also had a long-term relationship with David Gale, mathematician at University of California, Berkeley, until his death in 2008.

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading poems aloud to my baby while breastfeeding. Poetry about motherhood seemed appropriate. This book has some memorable poems. Possibly too memorable. Warning: do not read Jane Shore's poem Solomon's Sword, in which a mother tries to breastfeed her dead infant while you are actually breastfeeding your baby, unless you WANT nightmares.

[librarian4Him02 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I wanted to read poetry related to motherhood in honor of Mother's Day. I had no idea there were so many poems out there on the topic of motherhood. I enjoyed reading these works.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read tihs book during my pregnancy. One poem a day. It was a perfect fit.