Paula Bernat's anthology, based on seven years of pioneering archival research, establishes nineteenth-century American women's poetry as a major field in American literature and American women's history.
Based entirely on archival research, Poets in the Public Sphere traces the emergence of the "New Woman" by examining poetry published by American women in newspapers and magazines between 1800 and 1900. Using sources like the Kentucky Re...
"This volume argues very powerfully that nineteenth-century American poetry encompasses much more than Whitman and Dickinson. This is an indispensable book and will be useful to both new and experienced instructors who wish to include nineteenth-century American poetry in their classes." --Camille Roman, editor, The New Anthology of American Poetry "A must-have for any educator in charge of teaching the subject and for community library education collections." --Midwest Book Review
Paula Bernat Bennett, now retired, was professor of English at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She has published widely in the field of American women's poetry. Her latest book is Poets in the Public Sphere: The Emancipatory Project of American Women's Poetry, 1800-1900 (2004). Karen L. Kilcup is professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Her books include Robert Frost and Feminine Literary Tradition (1998), Soft Canons: American Women Writers and Masculine Tradition (1999) and A Cherokee Woman's America: Memoirs of Narcissa Owen, 1831-1907 (2005).