From the Deliberately Tremulous to the Distinctively Powerful: The Changing Female Voice in Selected Poetry of Adrienne Rich | ||
| مجلة کلية الآداب جامعة الفيوم | ||
| Article 2, Volume 15, Issue 2, July 2023, Pages 43-81 PDF (382.78 K) | ||
| Document Type: المقالة الأصلية | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jfafu.2023.194837.1868 | ||
| Author | ||
| محمد سعد راتب عبدالله* | ||
| كلية الآداب جامعة الفيوم | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The aim of this paper is to explore the different shifts of female voice in Adrienne Rich's poetry according to Elaine Showalter's categorization of the female experience as discussed in her feminist theory. Showalter's theory identifies three phases for the development of the female experience. The first is the "feminine" phase which marks woman's outright submission to male norms and lifestyle. The Second is the "feminist" phase in which woman starts to recognize bias and proclaim suffering due to the injustices and oppression of a patriarchal society. Showalter's final phase is the "female" phase in which woman has the courage and power to live freely, create her own world and show her potential for self-assertion. Showalter's three-phase category of the development of female experience fittingly applies to the development of the poetic persona's female consciousness in Rich's feminist, poetic discourse. Rich's poetic persona passes through three different phases of development defined by a change of voice in each phase. In the first phase, there appears the tremulous voice of a deliberately helpless, male-dominated woman. In the second phase, the weaker, hesitant voice is transformed into the protesting voice of a rebellious, dreaming woman. Finally, in the third phase, there emerges a powerful voice of a defiant, resolute woman. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Adrienne Rich; feminist poetry; Elaine Showalter; feminist critical theory | ||
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