Poetics of the Body Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Bishop, Marilyn Chin, and Marilyn Hacker

by Cucinella, Catherine

• ISBN13: 9780230620889
• ISBN10: 0230620884
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Poetics of the Bodyexamines representations of the body in the work of four important twentieth-century poets: Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Bishop, Marilyn Chin, and Marilyn Hacker. Drawing on both past and present discussions regarding the place of the body in relation to Western philosophy, gender, sexuality, desire, creative production, and narrative, this study reveals how the poetic bodies in the poetry of these women negotiate the intersecting ideologies that attempt to regulate the body, its characteristics, and its behaviors. Ultimately, this dynamic bookconsiders what it means to possess a body.

Author Biography

Catherine Cucinella is Lecturer in the Department of Literature and Writing and the Women’s Studies Program at California State University.  She is the editor of Contemporary American Women Poets: An A-to-Z Guide.

Table of Contents

Introduction * Theorizing the Body * Textual and Corporeal Convergence: Edna St. Vincent Millay * “Dress Up!  Dress Up and Dance at Carnival”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Poetic Bodies * Writing the Body Palimpsest: Marilyn Chin * “Persistently on paper we exist”: Stories and Desire on and through the Body: Marilyn Hacker * Interview with Marilyn Chin * Conclusion