By herself

Have women moved beyond the status of cultural outsiders to become full participants in poetry and its criticism? In By Herself, women poets reconsider their art form on their own terms, and the results are telling: a collection of essays that are original, challenging, playful, ruthlessly individualistic, and inviting. Many of the essays are new; others are "classics" of poetry criticism. They cover a dazzling range of territory, from discussion of craft to reappraisals of both female and male poets to enlightened backtalk. From Jorie Graham to Eavan Boland, from Adrienne Rich to Rita Dove, the contributors express contemporary poetry's diversity of views and styles.