Masks Outrageous and Austere - Cheryl Walker

"[Walker's] well-focused, clearly written essays demonstrate the conformity and the challenges to conventional expectations defining 'women poets.' Walker's work makes a significant contribution to an often neglected area of American literary history." -Library Journal

"Based on close reading and explication of the texts, Walker brings fresh insights to each poet." -Choice

"... Walker has devised an original analysis that puts a new spin on the works and lives of these poets." -New Directions for Women

Concentrating on Amy Lowell, Sara Teasdale, Elinor Wylie, H.D., Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Louise Bogan, Walker analyzes the highly stylized self-images-from Lowell's androgyne to Millay's body-conscious romantic-projected by these women who attempted to renegotiate the terms upon which they could function successfully as poets.