Point of View

The point of view changes according to the individual poem. In some cases, a male poet writes in the persona of a woman; in others, a female poet addresses other women; in yet others female poets seem to be speaking to themselves of eternal truths. For example, the ancient Greek lesbian poet Sappho, entreats the love goddess Aphrodite to "leave Crete and come to this holy temple" in Knossos. She asks in "To Aphrodite of the Flowers, at Knossos" that Aphrodite "pour heavenly nectar into gold cups/and fill them gracefully with sudden joy." In the section on Motherhood, the Irish poet William Butler Yeats in "A Cradle Song" assumes the voice of a mother speaking to her infant. The mother delights in the fact "angels are stooping above your band and says "I shall miss you when you have grown." Margaret Walker in "Lineage" addresses...