Poetics of the Body : Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Bishop, Marilyn Chin, and Marilyn Hacker

Poetics of the Body examines representations of the body in the work of four important twentieth-century poets: Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Bishop, Marilyn Chin, and Marilyn Hacker. Drawing on both past and present discussions regarding the place of the body in relation to Western philosophy, gender, sexuality, desire, creative production, and narrative, this study reveals how the poetic bodies in the poetry of these women negotiate the intersecting ideologies that attempt to regulate the body, its characteristics, and its behaviors. Ultimately, this dynamic book considers what it means to possess a body. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 1 Theorizing the Body......Page 24 2 Textual and Corporeal Convergence: Edna St. Vincent Millay......Page 38 3 “Dress Up! Dress Up and Dance at Carnival!”: Elizabeth Bishop’s Poetic Bodies......Page 66 4 Writing the Body Palimpsest: Marilyn Chin......Page 92 5 Narrative and Desire on and through the Body: Marilyn Hacker......Page 118 6 Interview with Marilyn Chin......Page 140 Conclusion......Page 156 Notes......Page 166 Works Cited......Page 176 B......Page 182 C......Page 183 F......Page 185 H......Page 186 L......Page 187 M......Page 188 S......Page 189 W......Page 190 Theorizing the body Textual and corporeal convergence : Edna St. Vincent Millay Dress up! Dress up and dance at carnival : Elizabeth Bishop's poetic bodies Writing the body palimpsest : Marilyn Chin Persistently on paper we exist : stories and desire on and through the body : Marilyn Hacker Interview with Marilyn Chin.