Women, Poetry and the Voice of a Nation

A pioneering study of women poets exploring the four laureate roles of the United Kingdom and Ireland

Includes case studies of Gillian Clarke, Carol Ann Duffy, Liz Lochhead and Paula Meehan

Re-values the authority of poetry by women

Considers how poetry can be both nation-building and promote cultural internationalism

Explores the treatment of poetry in the school curriculum

The concurrent tenures of Gillian Clarke as National Poet of Wales, Carol Ann Duffy as UK Poet Laureate, Liz Lochhead as Scots Makar, and Paula Meehan as Ireland Professor of Poetry, defied historic rifts between women, poetry and nation. This book explores the extraordinary changes these women fought to achieve as each made her way from marginalised ‘poetess’ of the 1970s to laureate at the heart of cultural establishment in the 21st century. It looks at how they revitalised these public offices, and explores their interventions in contemporary geopolitics and national self-understanding. It considers how they shaped their roles by engaging with poetic icons of the past, by linking poetry and education, and by joining poetry with politics.

Reviews of Women, Poetry and the Voice of a Nation

"At once tracing the poets' careers and their self-inscription into exclusionary poetic traditions, Varty's timely book examines?their advances for literary and cultural democracies. It deftly?details?how, individually and collectively, these women reconfigure national identities while destabilising nationalisms, and how they infiltrate school curricula when sceptical of educational policies." -Dr Jane Dowson, De Montfort University, author of Carol Ann Duffy: Poet for Our Times