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IMMIGRATION: Jewish Women's Poetry
Jewish women did not experience immigration in the same ways as men, nor did their memories of "The Old Country" fit the male pattern. While themes of loss and challenge remain familiar, patterns of family bonding, cross-gender relations, and a different eye for detail (not necessarily "domestic") make for a different kind of poetry.
Most obviously, Jewish women moved from a world of double-marginalization (as Jews, as women) to one in which they could struggle for a greater freedom---as either Jews or women.
As Jews in Diaspora, they had, if literate, an automatic access to the public, international scene of Jewish affairs. Their writing begins as political poetry. They reach rapidly beyond the sphere of the home.
Texts by Penina Moise, Grace Aguilar, Adah Isaacs Menken, Bebette Deutsch, Linda Pastan, Diane Levenberg, Maxine Kumin, and others.
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