FemPoetiks of American Poetry and Americana Music: A Woman s Truth

From the poems of Anne Bradstreet, America’s first published poet, The FemPoetiks of American Poetry and Americana Music presents a powerful discourse that developed in the poetry of writers like Phillis Wheatley, Emily Dickinson and in Americana song lyrics of writers like Brandi Carlile, Rhiannon Giddens, and Lucinda Williams. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Introduction 10 Comparing Poems and Song Lyrics: A Brief Primer 19 Chapter Previews 26 Chapter 1: The Revelation of the Feminine 30 FemPoetiks 31 American/a Feminism 41 Fighting for Equal Time and Space: Women in Poetry and Music 49 Women and Americana Music 52 American Identity and Americana Music 54 Chapter 2: Anne Bradstreet and Brandi Carlile: The FemPoetiks of Resistance 68 Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) 74 The Poems 84 Brandi Carlile (1981–) 96 The Song Lyrics 108 Concluding Thoughts 114 Chapter 3: Phillis Wheatley and Rhiannon Giddens: The FemPoetiks of Revolution 118 Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784) 127 The Poems 136 Rhiannon Giddens (1977–) 146 The Song Lyrics 157 Concluding Thoughts 168 Chapter 4: Emily Dickinson and Lucinda Williams: The FemPoetiks of Rebellion 172 Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) 181 The Poems 191 Lucinda Williams (1953–) 197 The Song Lyrics 208 “I envy Seas” and “I Envy the Wind”: A Side-by-Side Comparison 213 Concluding Thoughts 218 Chapter 5: Women of Americana: The Interviews 222 Caitlin Canty 225 Lynn Drury 227 Taylor Dupuis 229 Cindy Emch 230 Tammy Frost 232 Jess Jocoy 234 Beth McKee 236 Michaela Anne Neller 238 Gretchen Peters 240 Leanne Trevalyan 242 Jamie Lin Wilson 244 Conclusion 248 Bibliography 252 Discography 274 Further Reading 276 Index 280 About the Author 296 From the poems of Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, and Emily Dickinson emerges what the author calls FemPoetiks, a discourse of female empowerment. Situating the work of these poets in their historical eras, Linda Nicole Blair considers a sampling of their poems side-by-side with a number of song lyrics by singer-songwriters Brandi Carlile, Rhiannon Giddens, and Lucinda Williams, having found commonalities of theme, motif, and language between them. Blair argues that while FemPoetiks has continued to develop in various ways in American poetry by women, the fact that this discourse finds expression in songs by Americana female artists indicates a matrilineal line of influence from the 1630s to today. In order to show the omnipresence of this powerful feminist discourse, she closes this book with eleven interviews she conducted with female singer-songwriters from around the United States. The phenomenon of FemPoetiks is not limited to the arts but extends into all areas of American life, from the domestic to the political. FemPoetiks is a woman's truth. "From the poems of Anne Bradstreet, America's first published poet, FemPoetiks of American Poetry and Americana Music presents a powerful discourse that developed in the poetry of writers like Phillis Wheatley and Emily Dickinson and in Americana song lyrics of writers like Brandi Carlile, Rhiannon Giddens, and Lucinda Williams"-- Provided by publisher