Celebrating Female Writers

Virginia Woolf (photo/en.wikipedia.org)

On Monday, Jan. 25, literature fans celebrated Virginia Woolf’s birthday. The author is revered as one of the most prolific modernist writers of the 20^th century. During her time attending King’s College London, she became intermingled with a group of radical feminists. Inspired by her colleagues, she wrote her first novel, “Voyage Out.” 

However, her fourth novel, “Mrs. Dalloway,” is a favorite among readers because of its strong issues of feminism, mental illness and other taboo themes in her post-World War I England society.

Today, Woolf is considered one of the most iconic feminist writers in history.

I am a feminist. I’m not afraid to declare this statement. Actually, every girl in the English Department at my university is a feminist, and we bond together to celebrate female writers in our literature courses.

Last semester, I read Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar” for the first time. I have been exposed to Plath’s poetry prior to this course, but her novel captures the spirit of feminism writing. Esther Greenwood, the novel’s protagonist, does not want to get married, and this is the 1950s – a time when marriage was sacred. 

"The Bell Jar" (photo/sylviaplath.info)

“The Bell Jar” is fictional, yet I can’t help but compare the contents within the story to Sylvia Plath’s real life. Esther Greenwood becomes mentally unstable, and unfortunately, Plath committed suicide by sticking her head in an oven.

Plath often wrote about the struggles of being a woman, a wife and a mother. That’s why she is regarded as the leader in feminism writing. 

I would like to say that I just wrote my “feminist” poem for my Advanced Poetry Workshop course. The setting is 1880’s Paris in a beautiful ballroom. A gentleman sees a woman dressed in an elegant gold and silver dress. She spots him and waits for him to ask her to dance. However, the gentleman is too shy and bashful to approach her, so she takes the chance. She approaches him and asks him to dance.

Sylvia Plath (photo/blogs.bcu.ac.uk)

--

Ballroom Gaze

Pearls hang around her neck

as the young gentleman spots her

from across the ballroom.

A countess, a human stand for the elaborate

dress in gold and silver;

Elle est jolie.

Kate Chopin (photo/katechopin.org)

She looks to him, he catches her eye;

a smile is shared between the pair.

He blushes, turns away from the hopeful gaze.

She stands waiting, patient and still.

A missed chance, opportunity lost.

She smiles at his bashfulness

and decides to be the one—

the one to take the chance.

She taps his shoulder, he turns to her—

“May I have this dance?”

--

Having the girl approach the man would be unusual during this time period, but I wanted to write this poem to define gender roles.

This blog post is a nod to my favorite female writers – Plath, Woolf, Dickinson, the Bronte sisters, Toni Morrison, Harper Lee and Kate Chopin.

Women changed literature with unique forms, and I am very excited for the next generation of female writers to inspire young readers.

-KJL-