Essay exam questions given by Louise Kertesz for a course she taught on Women Poets

Dated May 26th, 1977. Louise Kertesz’s essay exam for a course she taught on Women Poets. The assignment is in two parts. Part One: “So you took a course in Women Poets!” wheezes your elderly great-uncle Jasper. “Isn't that sweet,” he continues, sipping his camomile tea. “More young ladies should read pretty verse. Then maybe we'd have sweet young ladies again, like that lovely Miss Dickinson in Amherst, so quiet and demure. Ah yes…one of my favorites is the ‘How do I love thee’ verse by that frail Mrs. Browning…” Fill Uncle Jasper in on 20th Century poetry by women. Discuss poems of Plath, Sexton, and Rukeyser, explaining the themes these poets explore and the ways they shock–or at least stimulate–readers into a new awareness of the world and of women’s lives. Take some time to tell Uncle Jasper about the real Dickinson and Browning, Discuss specific poems and themes. Mention other women poets of the past such as Bradstreet and 1) the way their writing reflected or defied the expectations of a patriarchal society and 2) the way literary historians have dealt with their lives and work. [SUGGESTED TIME: ONE HOUR AND 15 MINUTES]. Part Two: ``Write an essay entitled “Adrienne Rich: A Poet’s Evolution.” Discuss key lines and images from the following groups of poems (as many poems from each group that you can), explaining how Rich’s consciousness of herself, her craft, her relationships and society changed over the course of her career. Point out how her later development is foreshadowed in specific early poems, and note the change between her early and later styles of writing. Several of Rich’s poems are presented in groups. Published in 1951-1955: “An Unsaid Word” , “At a Bach Concert”, “Living in Sin”, “Autumn Equinox”. Published in 1957-69: “The Knight:, “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law”, “Necessities of Life”, “In the Evening”, “Tear Gas”. Published in 1971-72, “Planetarium”, :'' The Burning of Paper Instead of Children”, “Incipience”, “Diving into the Wreck”. “Rape”, “From a Survivor”. Published in 1974, “White Night”, “For L.G.”, “From an Old House in America”. [SUGGESTED TIME: 45 MINUTES)