100 Essential Modern Poems by Women

by Joseph Parisi (Editor)

Presents the masterpieces of fifty great women poets in the English language over the past 150 years. Like the widely praised 100 Essential Modern Poems , this accessible volume is filled with wisdom and insights to delight. Includes ideas about courage and endurance, life and death, faith and hope, and the continuing search for meaning, as well as the favorite subjects of love, marriage, family dynamics, and nature. Selected by Joseph Parisi, former longtime editor of Poetry magazine, with Kathleen Welton, the collection features such acclaimed poets as Emily Dickinson, Lucille Clifton, Maxine Kumin, Audre Lorde, Marianne Moore, Mary Oliver, Linda Pastan, Sylvia Plath, Kay Ryan, and May Swenson. Also includes many fine but forgotten poets and several contemporary poets who will surprise, stimulate, and amuse readers.

Genres: Poetry

304 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 2008

Reviews

[Kimber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the selection of poets, more than the selection of poems. And I thought it strange that despite Emily Dickinson's impact, there is such a small offering but there are pages for Mina Loy. I liked the biographical content but not a lot of the poems cried out to me.

My favorites:
Dickinson's: I'm Nobody! Who are you?
After Great Pain....
I Died for Beauty
Much Madness is Divinest Sense
Sara Teasdale: After Love
Anne Sexton: The Truth the Dead Know
Sylvia Plath: Morning Song
Stevie Smith: Not Waving but Drowning
Louise Erdich: Advice to Myself

[Kerfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Songs are like tattoos...
...
...ink on a pin
underneath the skin
an empty space to fill in"

That's Joni Mitchell, and the same applies to poetry. There needs to be music there, behind the words, something that gets under the skin.

Joni is not in this volume. No songwriters are in this volume. No women under age 50 are in this volume.

So..."essential"? "the greatest"? There is good, even great, poetry here, but much of it has no music for me. To paraphrase Nicholson Baker, some is just good or interesting prose broken up into lines to look like poetry. And occasionally not even good or interesting prose.

The editors seem to have chosen by accolade. The poets are well-known in the Poetry World. They have won awards. They are Recognized. I'm not a big fan of "best" (or here, essential, with greatest as the subtitle) as a classifying theme anyway. We change. They change. The world, our lives, change constantly. We, and they, are also products of our times.

These are "Some Well-Regarded Female Poets Born Between 1830 and 1955", no more than that.

Parisi and Welton give a brief biography of each woman, and there's no shortage of interesting lives. Sometimes, in fact, the lives are more interesting than the writing. I also had a problem with the way the editors presented the information--often it disintegrates from lives lived into lists of awards and honors and publications. And the continuous use of, for lack of a better term, flowery language, in each poet's introduction, bothered me as well. I'm all for increasing vocabulary, but here unusual words are so pervasive and noticeable they distract from what is being said. It sounds like showing off and takes the focus off the subject, where it belongs.

Criticisms aside, a lot of this poetry is worth a look--Emily Dickinson, Dorothy Parker, Ruth Stone, Mary Oliver (also mentioned with admiration by Nicholson Baker in "The Anthologist"), Lisel Mueller, Jane Kenyon, Kay Ryan, and--who knew?--Louise Erdrich were among my favorites.

It's a sampling, and the reader can choose who speaks to them, who they feel deserves a futher, deeper look. But the presentation, from title onward, could have been much much better.

[Carly Faison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always want to explore new authors so I love curated anthologies (though they are always a mixed bag). In theory, I like receiving biographical information about each poet, but major SIDE EYE to the ways the poets were discussed (it felt somewhat racist and sexist which is wild for an anthology of women’s works).

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this anthology - I read a few unknown (to me) poems from poets I knew, and was introduced to several I'd never heard of. Two of them and I share strange connections - one was in the same graduate program I was in at the same university, exactly 50 years before me (folklore at IU), and one lived on a random mountain in Australia that I spent a weekend at during high school. The one I hadn't heard of that I was most intrigued by was Mina Loy, who is great fun to read out loud. I appreciated the work done by the anthologist, who in addition to writing an interesting introduction, provided a narrative for each poet that included the best anthologies and biographies of each poet, since his hope was that the anthology would only want you to read more.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I wanted more information about the authors of the poems I read, but this book has a few pages of information and only two or three poems. It would be great to have a summary paragraph or two and then more poems, or even the current amount of biographical information and then many more poems. Overall, a nice list.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parisi's summaries and introductions of each poet are concise and generally stick to the biographical facts rather than any critic of style or content. Obviously, he wouldn't have included each poet in the anthology if he didn't respect their works. I would have liked to see Adelaide Crapsey in the volume.

[Theresa Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't until I was 100+ pages in that I actually found a poem that spoke to me- and then I found quite a bit of poems/poets that I liked. Glad that I didn't follow an early impulse to add this book to my "Abandoned" shelf.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. Some of the biographical text was too lengthy. I also want to add: As a few other reviewers have said, this book had none of Maya Angelou's work. I know she's in a class of her own, but she definitely deserved recognition.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this one up at the PL yesterday. Looks good.

[Micabarry]

Poetry can jump start the mind and soul!

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Included some interesting info and good poems, but few that I would not be able to live with out.

[Amy Paget · Rating 4 out of 5]

In addition to the wonderful poetry, the brief introduction to each poet tells the story of some phenomenally inventive women. Highly recommended.

[Shannon Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the biographies of all these amazing women poets. I wrote down my favorites so I can look them up later. Inspired me to start writing poetry again.

[Eva Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading bios and works by these poets. I look forward to reading collections by several of them.

[Tasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I wish it had been written by a woman.