First published 2011
Caroline Kennedy assembles poetry from acclaimed writers to explore the female experience across decades of life. Drawing from her personal journey through girlhood, marriage, and motherhood, Kennedy organizes verses that capture love's first spark, heartbreak's sting, friendship's comfort, and aging's wisdom. The collection features work by Elizabeth Bishop, Sharon Olds, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Mary Oliver, Pablo Neruda, W. H. Auden, Adrienne Rich, Sandra Cisneros, Anne Sexton, Dorothy Parker, Queen Elizabeth I, Lucille Clifton, Naomi Shahib Nye, and W. B. Yeats. Kennedy introduces each section with personal reflections that connect the poetry to universal moments in women's lives. The anthology opens with Lord Byron's titular poem, setting the tone for a collection that honors both struggle and celebration. Kennedy offers readers poetry as a lens for understanding womanhood's complexity, providing language for experiences that span falling in love, building friendships, navigating marriage, raising children, and embracing maturity.
Genres: anthologies, poetry, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, personal-journey
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
332 pages · Hardcover · Voice