Collected Poems / Gesammelte Gedichte

This volume presents the selection from Nardi's poetry which she herself made. It is the first published book of her poems anywhere in the world since 1956. She says this of her poetry: "Because the whole body of traditional English verse has been created by male poets chiefly, women can draw upon it without any threat of fraud or self-diminishment as long as they steer clear of the intimate personal lyric. If a woman wants to write genuinely out of a strictly female emotional world, she has to strike out for herself not only in subject matter but technically as well. Most of these poems (though some more than others) are an attempt to do this. But it's an attempt that seems to me now in retrospect as much too fumbling and tentative so that what this volume represents is a clearing for a road still in the process of being constructed." This volume offers the selection of Nardi's poetry that she herself has chosen. It is the first book publication of her poems worldwide since 1956. Nardi writes about her poetry: "Since the entire body of English poetry is almost exclusively male, women can refer to it without running the risk of deceiving or degrading themselves - as long as they stay away from personal poetry. If a woman really wants to write from a female sensibility, she must go her own way, not only thematically but also technically. Most of the poems here (some more, some less) are an attempt to do just that. But in retrospect, the attempt still seems too tentative and tentative to me, as if this volume only prepared the ground for a path that still has to be paved.".