A Chorus for Peace: A Global Anthology of Poetry by Women - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 087745812X ISBN 13: 9780877458128

Publisher: University Of Iowa Press, 2002

Synopsis

Women poets from around the world are gathered here to raise their voices together, to speak out against violence and its calamitous effect upon the human soul. Yet there is also a thread of resilience here, an undercurrent of hope that points to the human ability to move on, to build a new life out of a shattered past.

Each poem addresses difficult issues concerning conflict and the lives of women. Some are spirited statements that demonstrate courage even in brutal circumstances; others rage at the perpetrators of war or simply mourn their losses. Together, these works reveal a deep consciousness of both the effects of violence and the human ability to move forward.

The women whose poems appear in this collection stand for peace. Many of them have seen war and strife on fronts both national and domestic; and they write graphically and poignantly, and sometimes ironically, about conflicts external and internal that tear up their lives and the lives of their families and neighbors. They write about the victims of war and oppression: bewildered and brutalized children, bereft wives and mothers, raped and mutilated women, tormented prisoners and soldiers. And they write about victims of a seemingly failed society and victims of struggling or failed human relationships.

At the same time, these writers are also crying for peace, searching for peace, and occasionally finding peace. In their search, they point the way for the rest of us.

About this title

About the Author

Marilyn Arnold is the author of numerous books on twentieth-century American writers, including The Reader's Companion to Willa Cather's Fiction.She is emeritus professor of English at Brigham Young University. Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill is professor of psychology and director of the Women's Research Institute at Brigham Young University. Her studies on violence and peace in men and women have received wide publication in psychology journals. Kristen Tracy, whose work has been published in the Green Mountains Review, Quarterly West, Poet Lore,and other literary journals, teaches creative writing at Western Michigan University.

Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill is professor of psychology and director of the Women’s Research Institute at Brigham Young University.

Kristen Tracy, whose work has been published in the Green Mountains Review, Quarterly West, Poet Lore, and other literary journals, teaches creative writing at Western Michigan University.

Reviews

Internationally acclaimed poets like Wislawa Szymborska, Lucille Clifton, Natalya Gorbanevskaya and Fadwa Tuqan protest violence and war in A Chorus for Peace: A Global Anthology of Poetry by Women. Edited by Brigham Young University English professor Marilyn Arnold, BYU psychology professor Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill and Western Michigan University creative writing teacher Kristen Tracy, the book is divided into sections like "Women Surviving War," "Domestic Battlefields" and "Reaching and Rebuilding." "I was to be shot at dawn," writes Irina Ratushinskaya in "I Had a Strange Dream," "And then one of my classmates appeared,/ My classmate said: `Good evening/ How unlucky you've been. I'm very sorry./ I mean, being shot it's so inhumane./ I've always believed in soft measures.' "
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 087745812X
• ISBN 13: 9780877458128
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 220
• Editor: Arnold Marilyn, Ballif-Spanvill Bonnie, Tracy Kristen