The Top 100 Books Every Woman Should Read Part IV: Poetry

“Because I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me
The Carriage held but just Ourselves
And Immortality.”

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In this classic collection, the Native American poet and performance artist explores the intricacies of womanhood.

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Dublin-born Boland’s subversive, fiercely feminist poetry examines the role of women in Irish society.

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The Soviet poet wrote about the difficulties of living in Stalinist Russia and she won a bevy of female fans—in 1914, thousands of woman penned verses in her honor.

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Lorde, a Caribbean-American writer whose poetry was published regularly in the 1960s, set out to challenge white feminists. She argued that white feminists were similar to male slave owners in that both were “agents of oppression.”

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“Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
Took its place among the elements.” —From Morning Song

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Berryman’s classic collection of Dream Songs were originally published in 1977. Known for their nontraditional form, the Dream Songs follow a middle-aged man named Henry, who must deal with personal tragedy.

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Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, Bishop is considered one of the most important poets of the twentieth century.

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“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak,—yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress when she walks, treads on the ground;
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.” —Sonnet 130

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Based on the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone, Mother Love explores the relationship between mother and daughter.

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Hirshfield is fascinated by the everyday, giving meaning to the otherwise mundane aspects of life, such as buttons and the elusiveness of sleep.

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In Trapeze, Digges reflects on a woman’s passage into midlife as well as the loss of her husband:

“See how the first dark takes the city in its arms
and carries it into what yesterday we called the future.”

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Carson ruminates on Keats’ idea that beauty is truth in this essay, which is told in 29 tangos. “A tango (like a marriage) is something you have to dance to the end.”

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“(of Ever-Ever Land i speak
sweet morons gather roun’
who does not dare to stand or sit
may take it lying down)” —From of Ever-Ever Land i speak

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The Polish poet’s major themes—the ironies of love, the wonders of nature’s beauty, the illusory character of art—are collected here.

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Oliver’s poetry is inspired by her childhood in Ohio and by nature. An avid walker, Oliver incorporates traveling on foot into her poetic process.

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“On my way to bringing you the leotard
you forgot to include in your overnight bag,
the snow started coming down harder.
I watched each gathering of leafy flakes
melt round my footfall.
I looked up into it—late afternoon but bright.
Nothing true or false in itself. Just motion. Many strips of
motion. Filaments of falling marked by the tiny certainties
of flakes. Never blurring yet themselves a cloud.” —From The Dream of the Unified Field

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Ryan, the sixteenth poet laureate of the United States, is often compared to Emily Dickinson and Marianne Moore because she favors short, quirky poems.

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The Soviet poet chronicled her many love affairs with men and women in her writing.

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Gluck meditates on themes of time and mortality in this collection, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993.

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CLICK HERE FOR THE TOP 100 BOOKS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD READ: PART V: SHORT STORIES.