Ain't I a Woman!

by Illona Linthwaite

Book Overview

Spanning the centuries from Sappho's Greece to tenth-century Japan, from nineteenth-century Chile to Zindziswa Mandela's twentieth-century South Africa, the voices of these women poets express themes... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809225344
• ISBN13: 9780809225347
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

yes ain't i a woman

women writers from around the world man this book is awesome, Lord women are the best!!

Classic and modern women's poetry from around the world.

This is one of the best anthologies of poetry I've ever found. The purpose: Bring together words from women of all cultures, all ages, all corners of the world. Here are young women, old women, fat women, starving women, lives touched by peace, war, spiritual joy, physical abuse, passion, motherhood, loss. There are beautiful, haunting words here. There are cold, hard, brutal images here. If you're a woman who complains about feminists, please read this book and try to understand what women have had to go through so that you could be where you are today: free to complain. If only to have a copy of Sojourner Truth's immortal "Ain't I a Woman?" speech from 1852, this book would be worth the price. Read this book for the incredible messages here. You will be moved.

Boost on Self-Esteem

Ain't I a Woman was not a surprise to me. It is full of beautiful works of art. This book is full of voices of many different women, with different lives, different backgrounds but from their voices you can feel their strength and each voice in that book can add to your self-esteem and make you feel stronger about yourself as a women with every poem. Although some poems are not as powerful as others, their messages are still there: "I lived, I saw, I loved, I struggled, I died, but most importantly I felt, felt what life was like and from my words you might learn how it really is to be a woman". This book should be read by anyone who has time get lost in its poetry. I personally read a piece of the book everyday at work and I am glad that I made the time. There are many different writers in this book and I recommend reading different works from those authors as well.

Bold, striking, and sure to produce favorites

This book obtains its title from Sojourner Truth's incomparable speech in 1851, and for the most part is brilliant and moving. My main complaint is that it focuses on the physical (sex, childbirth, etc.) so much that it could be classified as erotic poetry instead of a full exploration of womanhood. However, look for amazing cultural and chronological diversity in authors, and refreshing humor in poems like "Sho nuff." The development of the book is thematic, according to stages of life by also by subject. Series show different visions of famous women such as Jezebel, Cleopatra, and Medusa, which ends with a hilarious conversation between Medusa and Eve. The poems in this collection really strike - not everyone will like everything, but I'm sure everyone will find SOMETHING in here that really gets their attention. My personal favorite is "Witch." There are dozens of poems in here, enough to make the book seem very long, but since no poem is longer than two pages, I garantee you won't get bored.

Not just for Women!

What a wonderful collection of women poets! Everyone knows about Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath, who made wonderful contributions to the world of poetry, but this collection takes it to the next level by offering such a mix of wisdom from very talented, but not as often read, poets. I recommend this collection to anyone who is interested in expanding his/her knowledge and appreciation of poetry.