MotherSongs: Poems for, by, and about Mothers

Edited by Sandra M. Gilbert, Susan Gubar, and Diana O’Hehir, this anthology includes poems about pregnancies, birthing and nursing, living with children, mothers grieving their children, aging mothers, grandmothers, and mothers who’ve passed, among other themes. From traditional ballads about maternity to courtly elegies for mothers, the 200 poems in this book represent mothers and motherhood in narratives and lyrics that capture the experience from every perspective imaginable. The poets whose work is featured include Ai, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Bishop, William Blake, Gwendolyn Brooks, Emily Dickinson, Rita Dove, Langston Hughes, D. H. Lawrence, Philip Levine, Audre Lorde, Sharon Olds, Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker, W. B. Yeats, and many more.