On 7/5/06 2:42 PM, "David Bircumshaw" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> One of the interesting aspects of this debate has been the amnesia about the
> marked way in which our culture often has seen poetry as an 'unmanly'
> occupation: male poets are associated with 'nancy boys', 'stuff for women',
> with the exhibition of sensitivity and feeling, those 'feminine' qualities,
> rather than sports-field prowess, as well 'bookishness' which is not again
> a macho activity.
Good point, David; the Romantic poet personified both masculine (Intellect)
and feminine (Soul) brought together behind that famous brooding brow; which
always "conceieved", "gestated" and "gave birth" to Genius. Etc. This by way
of marginalising actual women, btw, who were doomed to hairy unsexieness a
la George Eliot, eternal spinsterhood (any number of poets) or facing having
their mortal frames shrivelling under the flame of Genius a la Elizabeth
Barrett ...
All best
A
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
|