164,847 ratings — It’s safer so –. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and we begin, controversially, with a poem written by a man about his mistress – and, to boot, a poem that has often been read as misogynistic. published 1849, avg rating 4.21 — Her poetry, too, is shot through with wit, but also wisdom – as here, in ‘On Being a Woman’, in which the poet laments the fact that she is bored when her lover is around, but as soon as he goes away she longs to be with him again…. 11,634 ratings — The author of this article, Dr Oliver Tearle, is a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University. But what are the best poems about being a woman, and about womanhood – those written by both male and female poets? published 1924, avg rating 4.39 — Shire (b. avg rating 4.06 — She lived in a house where help wasn’t hired: Here are some suggestions. Welcome back. ‘Nothing like the sun’ may sound rather churlish and strong (‘Oh, don’t be silly, her eyes are nowhere near as marvellous as the sun!’), but then it doesn’t necessarily mean that her eyes are positively hideous to behold …. published 1981, avg rating 4.21 — Taggard was also an early biographer of Emily Dickinson. Thanks, Frank – I always try to throw in a few surprising little-known gems! 26,921 ratings — For everything there is exact to my wishes, published 1954, avg rating 3.85 — 87,337 ratings — In 2016, her poetry featured prominently in Beyonce’s film Lemonade. If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; This poem, first published in 1932, is a sonnet, and is notable for its frank expression of female desire: a Petrarchan sonnet (originally, and traditionally, an especially male form) that turns the male idea of courtly love on its head, which describes the woman’s physical attraction to somebody, rather than an intellectual connection with them. published 2018, avg rating 4.24 — Yeats (Paperback), The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Paperback), Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth (Paperback), Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (Hardcover), If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (Paperback). Here we have another poem by a man, but this time, Shakespeare’s contemporary Ben Jonson assumes the voice of womankind. published 1949, avg rating 4.00 — 92,939 ratings — Shire (b. July 23-Aug. 22:Leo poet Warsan Shire suggests, “Document the moments you feel most in love with yourself—what you’re wearing, who you’re around, what you’re doing. Join The Daily Pledge. published 1923, avg rating 4.09 — Writing in a letter to Lady Robert Cecil about the poem, Virginia Woolf said that the jury at the coroner’s inquest found the charwoman to have been mad, ‘which proves once more what it is to be a poet in these days’. 193,625 ratings — Ben Jonson, ‘In the Person of Womankind’. No pick of classic poems by women poets about womanhood – which looked back to poets of ages past – would be complete without something from the prolific Emily Dickinson (1830-86): I’m ‘wife’ – I’ve finished that – From May-time and the cheerful Dawn; For more poetry suggestions, we recommend our pick of the best poetry anthologies on the market. Leo poet Warsan Shire suggests, “Document the moments you feel most in love with yourself—what you’re wearing, who you’re around, what you’re doing. William Wordsworth, ‘Perfect Woman’. 68,715 ratings — That other state – If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head …. published 1857, avg rating 4.28 — Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. 109,040 ratings — 7. published 1320, avg rating 4.24 — 48,561 ratings — Refresh and try again. The complications of success, the difficulties of intimacy. 21,776 ratings — The poem is a classic example of uxorious poetry – poetry written about the love for a wife. 71,879 ratings — Write a Meditation for a New Hazelden Book. 363,737 ratings — published 2016, avg rating 4.11 — So begins this poem, in which the great Romantic poem William Wordsworth (1770-1850) offers an altogether more laudatory description of a beautiful woman’s appearance than Shakespeare did in his above sonnet, couched in Romantic (and romantic) terms: ‘A Spirit, yet a Woman too!’. published 1929, avg rating 4.52 — He is the author of, among others, The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers’ Journey Through Curiosities of History and The Great War, The Waste Land and the Modernist Long Poem. Warsan Shire, ‘For Women Who Are “Difficult” to Love’. Warsan Shire, ‘For Women Who Are “Difficult” to Love’. Sharon Olds (born November 19, 1942) is an American poet. published 2012, avg rating 4.04 — – Antonio Porchia. published 1609, avg rating 3.87 — Born to Somali parents in Kenya, Shire lives in the UK and writes about the plight of refugees as well as the realities of being a woman in the twenty-first century. published 1956, avg rating 3.78 — 1. Recreate … published 1273, avg rating 4.29 — published 1890, avg rating 4.12 — published 2005, avg rating 4.37 — Like Twilight’s, too, her dusky hair; 46,927 ratings — A lovely Apparition, sent 24,029 ratings — published 1307, avg rating 3.97 — 56,382 ratings — Dickinson, famously, never married – but here, in this poem, Dickinson adopts the voice of a wife as a way of musing upon the place of the wife in society, especially as the poor woman is ‘eclipsed’ by her husband. 9. “For Women Who Are ‘Difficult’ to Love” by Warsan Shire. 87. published 2014, avg rating 4.30 — updated Dec 07, 2015 10:37PM — Totally Amazing Books That Should Be Read By Everybody! 7,030 ratings — published 1798, avg rating 4.26 — published 1400, avg rating 4.28 — 1,209,638 ratings — This is one of the most famous heartbreak poems about moving on, and if it sounds familiar, you probably recognize it from selections that were in Beyonce’s Lemonade album. 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