The Lesbian Muse and Poetic Identity, 1889-1930

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The book explores the historical dynamic between male poets and female muses, particularly during the late Victorian and twentieth centuries. It examines how women poets challenged the traditional passive role of the muse by analyzing fin-de-siècle and modernist lyric poetry. Parker identifies three strategies employed by these poets: redefining the muse as a contemporary figure, presenting the muse as male, and establishing a reciprocal relationship between poet and muse, thereby granting agency to both.