The Lesbian Muse and Poetic Identity, 1889-1930

Citation

Parker S (2013) The Lesbian Muse and Poetic Identity, 1889-1930. Gender and Genre, 12. Pickering and Chatto. http://www.pickeringchatto.com/titles/1512-9781848933866-lesbian-muse-and-poetic-identity-1889-1930

Abstract
Throughout history the poetic muse has tended to be (a passive) female and the poet male. This dynamic caused problems for late Victorian and twentieth-century women poets; how could the muse be reclaimed and moved on from the passive role of old? Parker looks at fin-de-siècle and modernist lyric poets to investigate how they overcame these challenges and identifies three key strategies: the reconfiguring of the muse as a contemporary instead of a historical/mythological figure; the muse as a male figure; and an interchangeable poet/muse relationship, granting agency to both.