" In THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, Elizabeth Alexander--poet, mother, and wife--finds herself at an existential crossroads after the sudden death of her husband, who was just 49. Reflecting with gratitude on the exquisite beauty of her married life that was, grappling with the subsequent void, and feeling a re-energized devotion to her two teenage sons, Alexander channels her poetic sensibilities into a rich, lucid prose that describes a very personal and...

A memoir from the Native American poet describes her youth with an abusive stepfather, becoming a single teen mom, and how she struggled to finally find inner peace and her creative voice.

"The first full biography of Joy Davidman, known primarily as C.S. Lewis's late-in-life bride, but who here receives her much deserved rescue from that shadow"--

Introduce your students to the life of Phillis Wheatley, the first African American to have a book published in the United States. Students will explore the author's early years in the colonies where she learned to read and write. This intriguing nonfiction reader breathes life into the pages of history with primary source documents, featuring images of how life was like during America's early years. Build literacy and subject content knowledge with...

"Life, like a poem, is a series of choices." In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman's personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist...

"In Catholic grade school, Emma Bolden has a strange, intimate experience with a teacher that unleashes a short-lived chronic coughing spell-something the medical establishment will later use against her, as she struggles through chronic pain and fainting spells that coincide with her menstrual cycle. With The Tiger and the Cage, Bolden uses her own experience as the starting point for a journey through the institutional misogyny of Western medicine-from...

This volume explores the legacy of the works of American writer and poet Sylvia Plath (1932-1963). The author discusses how Plath's reputation was forged from the poems she wrote just before her suicide; how her estranged husband, the poet Ted Hughes, as executor of her estate, tried to serve two masters - Plath's art and his own need for privacy; and how it fell to his sister, Olwyn Hughes, as literary agent for the estate, to protect him by limiting...

Patti Smith is a renowned singer, songwriter, poet and activist. Her music, poetry, and politics are fearless, funny, raw and original. Traces Patti's punk-poet roots through the trials of daily life and untimely deaths that have formed her life and art. Touches on her early days in New York City and includes the people dearest to her, her family, and the political causes she champions.

An in-depth exploration of the life and work of the great American poet Emily Dickinson.