My critical introduction to my Master's thesis in English, She Wore Naked Men on Her Ears: A Collection of Original Poetry. Solipsistic modes of reading poetry neglect poetry's defined artificial substance. This artificial aspect of literature denies the substance of what it is said to represent: the writer's true self.

1. INTRODUCTION
4$
He tried to sing, singing
not to remember
his true life of lies
5
: a and to remember
his lying life of truths.
N -Octavio Paz, "Poet's Epitaph1
Is poetry autobiography? The Confessional ^school of American poetry has
gained so much acceptance and, thus, power in our culture that it dictates the
way many people read poetry $ttf& promotes Aie idea that the self, the poet, is
imbedded in fajtM&X poetry, ^fytta/fbr many readers, poetry has become/i^/t
/Qri!$ an expression of the individual poet's true self, bu-t all subjects, themes,
l^ s
< and$storiesCiolcLin a/poet^ poems are expressions of actual experiences of the
,' ^—
& v1 'J' Poet- Tne poetic voices in the work are the poet's voice and/or fragments of the
*
9 /
V poet speaking of his/her self, x0 know the poetry is to know the true self and
actual life experiences' of the poet. ruiifi^^ /)"
The question of whether or not poetry is autobiography is closely tied to
the question does poetry have a gender? Some scholarship on poetry, such as
psychoanalytical and French feminist theory, relies on a crucial assumption:
that language—and poetry by extension—has a gender. Language is thought of
in terms of being male and female; there are male sentences and female
sentences, male poetic forms and female poetic forms. For example, traditional
poetic forms and conventions are considered to be male and to exclude the
female other. For the female poet to write the true self then, she must write
female language that represents the female body, life, and experience.
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1^ *ja a

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8. Copyright 1997 Gwen Williams. This work is covered by a creative commons license.
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9. Copyright 1997 Gwen Williams. This work is covered by a creative commons license.
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