Introduction

Feminist criticism has profoundly reshaped the landscape of literary analysis, particularly in the realm of poetry. By interrogating the patriarchal, cultural, and historical frameworks that underpin traditional interpretations, feminist theorists have unearthed new dimensions of meaning in poetic texts. This approach not only critiques the exclusion of women's voices from literary canons but also reconfigures how gender, power, and identity are understood within poetic language. Through this lens, poetry becomes a site of resistance, subversion, and reclaiming agency.

Challenging Classical Interpretations

The Limits of Androcentric Readings

Classical analyses of poetry often reflect androcentric biases, presuming that the male perspective is universal. Feminist critics argue that this exclusion marginalizes female experiences and reinforces stereotypes. For example, Robert Browning's My Last Duchess is traditionally read as a study in jealousy and control. Feminist readings, however, shift focus to the silenced duchess, interrogating the poem as a critique of male-dominated systems that erase women's autonomy. By centering female subjectivity, feminist criticism dismantles the assumption that male-authored texts hold neutral authority over human experience.

Deconstructing the Canon

The literary canon, dominated by male poets like Shakespeare and Milton, has historically defined "great" poetry through criteria rooted in masculine values such as heroism and stoicism. Feminist scholars challenge this hierarchy by recovering marginalized female poets-such as Sylvia Plath, Adrienne Rich, and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz-and analyzing how their work redefines themes like love, power, and spirituality through a feminine lens. This reclamation disrupts the notion that greatness is gender-neutral.

Gendered Perspectives in Poetic Language

Embodied vs. Universal Voices

Feminist criticism scrutinizes the claim that poetic language transcends gender. For instance, in John Donne's metaphysical love poems, the speaker's voice is often assumed to be universally human. Feminist readings expose how this voice is coded male, privileging masculine emotions and intellect. Conversely, female poets like Anne Sexton use confessional styles to articulate bodily and emotional experiences historically dismissed as "trivial," such as childbirth or domestic confinement, asserting the legitimacy of these narratives.

Rhetoric of Power and Subversion

Poetic forms themselves become battlegrounds in feminist analysis. The sonnet, a form historically used to idealize feminine beauty, is repurposed by poets like Mary Wollstonecraft to critique patriarchal oppression. Similarly, contemporary poets like Claudia Rankine employ fragmented, experimental structures to dismantle linear, authoritative narratives, reflecting the dissonance of living in a gender-stratified society.

Case Studies: Transformative Readings

Sylvia Plath's Lady Lazarus

Plath's poem is often read as a nihilistic confession. Feminist critics, however, highlight how its violent imagery and defiant tone critique societal expectations of female suffering as a performative spectacle. Plath's speaker refuses victimhood, weaponizing her body as a site of rebellion-a interpretation that subverts traditional psychoanalytic readings focused on her personal trauma.

Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife

This collection reimagines myths and historical moments from the female perspective, such as giving voice to Mrs. Tiresias or Anne Hathaway. Duffy's work exemplifies feminist criticism's power to recontextualize canonical texts, asking readers to confront the gendered erasure in traditional narratives.

Implications for Poetic Theory

Feminist criticism has expanded poetic theory by demanding new methodologies: close readings that interrogate gendered diction, intertextual analyses pairing male and female poets, and historical contextualization of women's constraints. It also questions the very concept of "timeless" beauty in poetry, revealing how such ideals often mask ideological agendas.

Conclusion

Feminist criticism in poetry does not merely add women to the literary canon-it transforms how all texts are read. By exposing the gendered politics of language, form, and canon-building, it invites a radical rethinking of what poetry can signify. In doing so, it challenges readers and scholars alike to imagine a more inclusive and dynamic literary world.