Tired of being interpreted as subjects by both genders, women artists revolted during the feminist movement with art that reflected women’s lives and experiences. Their goal, as declared by Artist Suzanne Lacy, was ‘to influence cultural attitudes, and transform stereotypes.’ Initially, females were rarely seen as significant artists- their art being considered to be a hobby. The late 1960’s , however, saw an incursion of bold works: the feminist art movement confronted the subordinate roles of women and challenged the way women were viewed as artists and subjects in art. Hannah Wilke, a second generation feminist artist, began her career as a sculptor, using conventional as well as unorthodox materials, such as Cookie Dough, Laundry Lint and Bubble Gum. Later on, she started using photography, performance, sculpture and video to challenge the prevailing notions of sexism, and sexuality.
During the feminist movement beginning in the late 1700’s many women took stance to stand up for women’s rights that as women they weren’t getting and therefore caused this movement to carry on through present day. However, in literature during this time author’s would write books using women as props almost as men had dominance over women and women had to do everything that the men asked of them. "Women who had been told that they had it all—nice houses, lovely children, responsible husbands—were deadened by domesticity, she said, and they were too socially conditioned to recognize their own desperation" (Women’s movement). Women had once been told they had it all until the late 1700’s when men began to dominate over women and control what
This is the second paragraph and following for each section and subsection. There is something in her poetic style that clearly distinguishes her for the rest of the American writers and poets from the twentieth century. But what is that element that makes her art so unique? Maybe the fact that Plath discussed certain disturbing aspects of her life and made them public in such a extreme and particular way is the reason why her art become so innovative, so exquisite and at the same time so controversial . When she was alive she was a fabulous talented poet but her unexpected and epic suicide gave her and her work the status of immortality.
Her poetry collections include Standing Female Nude (1985), winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award; Selling Manhattan (1987), which won a Somerset Maugham Award; The Other Country (1990); Mean Time (1993), which won the Whitbread Poetry Award and the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year); and The World 's Wife (1999). Feminine Gospels (2002) is a celebration of the female condition. The Good Child 's Guide to Rock N Roll (2003) is her latest collection for children. In Out of Fashion (2004) she creates a vital dialogue between classic and contemporary poets over the two arts of poetry and fashion. Carol Ann Duffy is also an acclaimed playwright, and has had plays performed at the Liverpool Playhouse and the Almeida Theatre in London.
ABSTRACT: The study tends to depict how Eliot treated women as mere second sex in his poetry. It further explores Eliot’s misogynic, female-hater temperament and the reasons behind this abhorrence against women. The subjugation of women, throughout centuries, from ancient to present time has been done by male in patriarchal society. Eliot in his poetry, through the allusions of myth, history, religion, literature and philosophy not only narrates the degenerated state of women but also contributes to it by his fun, ridicule and satire of women. Instead of breaking the notion of patriarchy, Eliot becomes a torch-bearer of patriarchy and contributes to perpetuate the process subjugation of women by strengthening the mechanisms of women subordination.
Women authors of the nineteenth century faced a difficult task in getting their work published and acknowledged without harm to their person or reputation. Within the home or out in society, they faced heavy opposition each step of the way. This was not only the problem of female authors; women in general were silenced and oppressed and it is not surprising that many women suffered ill mental health as a result (Sigurthardottir, 27). Focusing on the theme of insanity which constitute a common theme in the Victorian and early twentieth century poetry, "The Farmer 's Bride" is a good example. Combining this with the further themes of fallen woman and woman as poet this poem reflects feminist dilemmas.
After the dramatic downturn towards the end of Sylvia Plath’s life, a lot of literature critics seemed to finally grasp the veiled meanings in Plath’s poetry. Her work displays signs of overwhelming emotion; one can’t help but assume that the vivid language resembles true personal references. There were many repeated themes throughout the collection that suggested how her mental stability exposed to this imagination of her poetry, led to her suicide. It came to terms just how fragile Plath was and the depression that overcame her was the push that led to the devastating suicide during the harsh winter of 1963. The depression she faced earlier in time was further enhanced after the affair that her husband, Ted Hughes had with Assia Wevill, shattering the comforted and loving walls she shared with him during their six years of marriage.
Women and Tradition: Battling Patriarchy With a Pen In the second chapter of their book, The Mad Woman in the Attic, (1979), Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar examine the relationship between female writers and literary tradition. Their central argument posits that female writers experience the “anxiety of authorship,” distress that stems from the lack of female precursors in the literary tradition for contemporary female writers to reference for inspiration and validation in their writing (Gilbert and Gubar 49). This disenfranchisement of female authorship is rooted in a literary tradition dominated by men, a patriarchal system that conforms female characters in literature to masculine desires, such as the poet 's muse or the angel. Enclosing
Desai depicts young, sensitive women becoming victims of social situation that first encourages and then punishes them for such ideas of self-development and fulfillment. The themes persistently recurring in the novels of Anita Desai are human relations, particularly that of man and woman; alienation, loneliness and lack of communication brought upon the individual by the pressures exerted by existential realities. Her women protagonist in Cry, The Peacock, (1963), Voices in the City(1965), where shall we go this summer(1975), Fire on the Mountain (1975) experience bewilderment and confusion as they are consistently thwarted in marriage
She continued writing amidst an orthodox marital home environment and used to write poems on scraps of paper and sneak them out of the house. Salma earlier used to write unconventional poems under the alias of Rajathi. The poems brought her a lot of resentment and anger from her conservative kin and the society of Thuvarankurichi. She then switched to the name ‘Salma’ under which her first anthology of poems Oru Malaiyum, Innoru Malaiyum (One Evening and Another Evening) was published in the year 2000. Considered one of the most outspoken women poets in India, Salma faced obscenity charges and violent threats for her poetry in 2003.