Description
Book SynopsisWomen poets who found both inspiration and isolation at the bottom of the glass
Trade Review"Recommended."--
Choice"A skilled critic and biographer, Brett C. Millier makes a convincing case for the way these poems engage, often in veiled forms, with both the allures of alcohol for women writers and the consequent dangers of alcoholism. An intelligent and captivating work."--Thomas Travisano, editor of
Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell"An extraordinarily important, groundbreaking book that moves the study of women's poetry forward by great leaps. Millier offers precious new information about women poets and focuses on their shared life-frustrations as well as their shared aesthetic strategies."--Annie Finch, author of
The Body of Poetry: Essays on Women, Form, and the Poetic SelfTable of ContentsCredits . vii
Preface . xi
Acknowledgments . xv
INTRODUCTION
Women Poets and Alcohol . 1
1 "JUST A LITTLE ONE"
Dorothy Parker as Archetype . 17
2 THE ALCHEMIST
Louis Bogan . 14
3 "I MUST NOT DIE OF PITY"
Edna St. Vincent Millay's Addictions . 60
4 "HOLD TO OBLIVION"
Elinor Wylie's Intolerable Life . 78
5 "THOUGHT'S END"
Leonie Adams and the Life of the Mind . 93
6 "WORDS FROM THE PIAZZA DEL LIMBO"
Isabella Gardner as Fallen Woman . 111
7 THE PRODIGAL
Elizabeth Bishop's Exile . 128
8 JEAN GARRIGUE
An Epilogue . 150
AFTERWORD . 161
Notes . 167
Bibliography . 181
Index . 193
