Women's Poetry and Poetic in Late Imperial China: A Dialogic Engagement Lexington Books, 2017

Women's Poetry and Poetic in Late Imperial China is the first research monograph on how women writers in late imperial China contributed to the evolution and expansion of the literary genres of lyric poetry and poetic criticism. Focusing on the interactions between women's poetic creations and the predominant (male) literati writing tradition, the book explores the poetic forms in which women wrote and investigates the poetic devices which women innovatively employed to create agency and negotiate their literary, social, and political concerns. It recognizes the contributions of women-authored poems and criticism to the construction and evolution of a distinct women's poetic tradition. It argues that gentry-class women used lyric poetry and poetic criticism as an important vehicle to engage themselves in the construction and modification of important discourses, be they cultural, social, or political.

"This engaging monograph on women's poetic practice in late imperial China provides fresh insights into historical women's gendered intervention into the mainstream literary tradition. Through astute analysis of exemplary works, Haihong Yang skillfully shows how women succeeded in appropriating a long-established poetic language to make their writing a new and vital part of China's literary legacy well-deserving of recognition." — Grace S. Fong, McGill University

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498537872/Women's-Poetry-and-Poetics-in-Late-Imperial-China-A-Dialogic-Engagement