Collected Poems: 1919-1979

by Madeline Gleason

Poetry. Women's Studies. A key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, Madeline Gleason (1903-1979) is among the principal poets in the history of women's writing. Associated early in her career with Robert Duncan and James Broughton, she was also much respected by the Beats, and she was one of the few women whose work was included in Donald Allen's landmark anthology, The New American Poetry (1960). Here is a true born poet, of which there are always too a poet who cannot help thinking poetically and singing out of herself--James Broughton. In her own works she created a transition from the passional poetry close to Yeats as a master to an exuberant individual creation swinging in an ambit that could include Mother Goose and, long before 'Pop Art,' the voices of individual America--Robert Duncan. Edited and with a preface by Christopher Wagstaff.

Genres: Poetry

176 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 1999

Reviews

[Seth Arnopole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Madeline Gleason’s poetry in a book that talked about her influence on the Beat poets. Her work does not have much in common with theirs; her poetry comes out of an earlier era. It’s unfortunate that she is little-known today. There is such yearning and beauty in Gleason’s work.

[Madeleine]

Poem The Blind Man and the Rockinghorse
“Things could not be worse,/“
“There is no time, said the gulls,/“