The Imaginary Lover

Despite having published five books of poetry, Ostriker is known primarily for her role in the vanguard of feminist literary criticism. Outspoken, passionate and contentious, she has sparked controversy as a defender of what she regards as an emerging tradition of women's poetry. To a certain degree, her poetry reflects her social concerns; yet to a surprising extent, her work transcends such concerns. Hers is a poetry of commitment, not so much to womankind as to humankind. She delivers hard personal lyric, often in narrative rhythm: she is more reporter than embroiderer or musician. When the voice of this rational, scholarly woman rises to crescendo, a tide of sweet human emotion lifts the poem into the realm of true experience with Keatsian intensity. In no way derivative of the many fine women poets she has championed, she is forging a clear, individual style of her own. Her poetry stands on its own considerable merits as exemplum of the examined life. (November)