EXPLORING LITERARY PRODIGIES

Reading Challenge: 10 Great Female Poets You Can’t Miss

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Literature written by women has often been ignored or minimized throughout history. However, together we can change that. If you are looking to immerse yourself in verses that might help you reflect on life, you may want to read female poets who invite you to explore an infinite range of emotions****and experiences through their words.

In this article, we will discover the talent and creativity of 10 female authors who deserve a privileged place on your to-read list. From ancient Greek and Victorian poets like Sappho and ​​Elizabeth Barrett Browning to more contemporary voices like Anne Carson and Maya Angelou, we guarantee a literary journey that will not leave you indifferent.

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Sappho was a Greek poet born around 630 B.C. in Mytilene, the capital of the island of Lesbos. Sappho was the daughter of a merchant and belonged to a noble family. She was the only woman that the Greeks of classical times included in the Olympus of Poets consisting of fourteen authors they considered worthy of study.

Plato considered Sappho the best poetess in Greek history and called her "the tenth muse". But despite the importance given to her by the Greeks, very few of her writings are preserved and most of her work is known to us by references from third parties. The only poem that has come down to us almost completely is a hymn in honor of Aphrodite.

She ran a school for the children of nobility in which dance, gymnastics, and music were taught. Love was the main theme of Sappho's work: the poet covered a wide range of feelings linked to it, such as nostalgia, jealousy, or longing for a loved one.

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Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806, in Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England, and was a well-known poet during the Victorian era. Like the vast majority of girls of her time, Elizabeth, the eldest of twelve children, was educated at home. Her brother and a neighbor introduced her to the world of Greek authors, as well as Shakespeare and Dante. At the age of twenty, Elizabeth had already anonymously published her first work, Essay on the Mind and Other Poems.

Elizabeth Barrett reflected her feminist leanings and political expressions throughout her works. She is best known for the sonnet "How Do I Love Thee?" and for Aurora Leigh, a nine-book epic poem centered on a strong and independent heroine. Browning was very popular in the United Kingdom and the United States during her lifetime and her poetry had great influence on prominent writers of the time, such as the American poets Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson.

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Author of almost 1,800 poems, Emily Dickinson is considered one of the pillars of modern American literature and one of the best poets in the world. She was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, into a wealthy and cultured family. Emily studied literature, history, religion, geography, mathematics, biology, music, Greek and Latin. In addition, she learned floriculture, horticulture, and gardening, all themes present in her work.

During her lifetime she was known as an eccentric introvert and few knew of her immense talent. She composed all her poems in pencil on small pieces of paper that her sister Lavinia found and published after her death. Initially, her poetry generated controversy, with some praising her "rare individuality and originality", while others disapproved of her unusual non-traditional style. Today, she is best known for her unusual use of form and syntax, and for being "the poet of paradox".

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Born on October 8, 1892, the daughter of a pianist and a professor and founder of the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts, Marina Tsvetaeva had an intimate relationship with literature from an early age. In addition to Russian, she spoke German and French: three languages in which she expressed her first verses. Tsvetaeva studied in Moscow and at the Sorbonne, and from the age of 18, she began to edit and publish her work.

Through her poems, Marina Tsvetaeva developed a style of writing in which musicality and form are above content. Each of the verses is expressed with a clear invitation to the reader: an invitation to explore, taste, and discover the paths that the poet has walked, suffered, or loved. Marina Tsvetaeva's work is considered one of the greatest of the 20th century.

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Poet, novelist, playwright, and translator Marguerite Yourcenar was born on June 8, 1903 in Brussels, Belgium. After being educated in France and England, she traveled through several European countries, and in 1947 she became an American citizen, although all her works were written in French. In her first volume of poems, The Garden of Chimeras (1921), she reinterprets Greek myths in order to adapt them to the modern world, revealing her refinement as a writer.

Her literature is defined by her knowledge of ancient civilizations and history, and her eagerness to understand human motivations. In 1980 Yourcenar became the first woman to be admitted to the Académie Française de la Langue, and in 1986 she was awarded the French Legion of Honor.

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A dedicated rural teacher, educator, and poet, Gabriela Mistral was born in Vicuña, Chile, on April 7, 1889. She published her first book in New York in 1922. The publication of Desolación (Desolation) gave Mistral international recognition and prestige, and she came to be considered one of the most promising writers of Latin American literature. It also marked the beginning of a series of publications in foreign lands: in Mexico, she published Lecturas para Mujeres (Readings for Women) and the first version of her book Ternura: Canciones de niños (Tenderness: Songs for Children) in Spain in 1924.

Gabriela Mistral is considered one of the most important references of Chilean and Latin American literature of the 20th century. For her work, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945, which was the first recognition of Latin American literature by the Swedish Academy.

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Many consider Sylvia Path a rebellious figure and a tormented soul who committed suicide at the age of 30. However, girls and women struggling with depression, isolation, and loneliness consider her a true icon. Her first collection of poems, The Colossus and Other Poems addresses complex themes, from death and duty to the suffering of women who do not conform to traditional ideas of femininity.

Despite her early death and the loss of part of her work, Sylvia Plath's work is considered one of the most extraordinary pieces of poetry of the 20th century. Her approach to pain, mental illness, and suffering made her one of the greatest exponents of the confessional genre, brilliantly captured in her raw, brutal verses.

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Mary Oliver was born in Maple Heights, Ohio, in 1935, into a dysfunctional family. From a young age, writing, reading, and escapades to the nearby woods became early escape tools. At the age of twenty-eight she published her first collection of poems, No Voyage, and Other Poems, and from then on her work was always inspired more by nature than by the human world.

Mary Oliver won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize and was one of the most influential American poets. She is the author of more than thirty books, mostly collections of poetry and a few essays, including American Primitive, Winter Hours, and Why I Wake Early.

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Anne Carson was born in Toronto, Canada, on June 21, 1950. She is a professor of Classical and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan and a renowned poet, essayist, and translator. A bilingual edition of Sappho's poems she found in a bookstore changed her life forever. "If I knew what poetry was, I wouldn't have to write. It's something I seek to tempt in the dark", she once stated.

Throughout her career, she has created an exquisite world, a collage of poetry, essays, and drama. Since her first book, Eros (1986), Carson meditates on the nature of romantic love and erotic desire using fragments of prose intertwined with verse. A scholar of classical culture and languages, Carson is, in the opinion of critics, one of the most exquisite and erudite writers of contemporary literature, as well as the author of a hypnotic work, in which she fuses styles, references, and formats.

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Marguerite Annie Johnson, better known as Maya Angelou, was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928, and spent most of her childhood with her grandmother in rural Arkansas. From a very young age, Angelou was an avid reader. She enjoyed the works of authors such as Jessie Fauset, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens.

Although she is best known for her autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", Maya Angelou was also an outstanding poet, playwright, essayist, and screenwriter. She began her career as a singer and dancer, worked as a civil rights activist, wrote seven acclaimed autobiographies, taught at Wake Forest University, and received numerous honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010. In her poems, she explored numerous themes such as feminism, love, loss, music, struggle, discrimination, and racism. She is best known as the "poet of the people".

SAYING THE SAME THING

These 10 American Idioms Have Their Foreign Counterparts

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No matter where we come from or what language we speak, we all have things in common. You might be surprised to know that, in different parts of the world, people often express the same ideas in very similar ways, even if they're using different languages. Idioms such as "Like father, like son" have a couple of creative versions in other languages, such as the one that translates to "A fish's young knows how to swim." If you want to know more, join us to discover the foreign counterparts of these 10 everyday American idioms!

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When you're faced with a situation where you have to take what is available without being able to choose, you can say: "Beggars can't be choosers." This idiom invites us to appreciate opportunities, especially those offered to us by others.

We can find the same idea in the German expression In der Not frisst der Teufel fliegen ("In times of need, the devil eats flies"). With their characteristic creativity, the French say Faute de grives, on mange des merles ("When there's a lack of thrushes, one eats blackbirds.") And there's a similar idiom in Spanish, too: A caballo regalado no se le miran los dientes (One shouldn't look at a gifted horse's teeth.) The latter comes from the tradition of inspecting a horse's teeth to determine its age and health. Pretty witty, right?

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Our experiences shape us, that's why the idiom "Once bitten, twice shy" is so right. It means that someone who's been hurt or had an unpleasant experience will be more cautious the next time, trying to avoid similar situations.

Other languages express the same idea with idioms like the Danish Brændt barn skyr ilden ("A burned child avoids fire") or French Chat échaudé craint l'eau froide ("Scalded cat fears cold water").

In Portuguese, people say Cão picado por cobra, tem tem medo de linguiça ("A dog that has been bitten by a snake fears sausages"). And in Spanish, you can say El que se quema con leche, ve una vaca y llora ("Whoever gets burned by milk cries when they see a cow.")

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You've probably heard a wise friend saying, "A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush." This idiom reminds us to appreciate and value what we have.

Like us, other cultures also use birds to communicate this same idea. For example, in Spanish, they say Más vale pájaro en mano que cien volando ("Better a bird in the hand than a hundred flying"). Germans use specific species of birds, saying Lieber den Spatz in der Hand als die Taube auf dem Dach ("Better a sparrow in your hand than a dove on the roof").

Other examples include Russian Лучше синица в в руке, чем журавль в небе ("Better a bird in your hand than a crane in the sky"), and Hungarian Jobb ma egy veréb, mint holnap egy túzok ("It is better a sparrow today than a bustard tomorrow.") What about you? How many birds do you have in your hands?

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In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Marcellus says, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark," after seeing the ghost of King Hamlet. With that phrase, the character shows his suspicion that there is corruption within the Danish court.

Thus, in English, we use this phrase to point out when something appears suspicious or dishonest, implying that there might be hidden issues. Hungarian has a similar version: Valami bűzlik Dániában ("Something stinks in Denmark"). However, other languages have their own phrases to express the same. If you travel to Finland, you can say Kauppaan on koira haudattuna (There is a dog buried in the affair). Spanish speakers say Hay gato encerrado (There is a hidden/enclosed cat.)

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When you solve something quickly and effortlessly, you say it is "A piece of cake." While the origins of this idiom are not entirely clear, it is thought to have emerged in the early 20th century, related to the exact experience of eating a piece of cake: easy, quick, and even enjoyable. In Polish, the expression is very similar, but they use another recipe. They say Bułka z masłem ("Bread roll with butter.")

But if you translate the phrase literally into another language, it can sound a bit weird. If you want to say that something is easy or simple in Russian, you can say И ежу понятно ("It would be understandable to a hedgehog.") With a more powerful phrase, in Slovakia, they say ľahké ako facka ("As easy as a slap.") And the French say Simple comme bonjour ("As easy as hello.")

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This idiom explains that incompetent people will often blame their failures on the environment, other people, or circumstances, but won't assume their fault.

In Bulgarian, they say На крива ракета космосът й пречи ("For a crooked rocket, the space gets in the way"). There's an idiom in German that reflects the same idea: Wenn der Bauer nicht schwimmen kann, liegt es an der Badehose ("If the farmer can't swim, it's due to his swimsuit").

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We're sure no one's ever really tried to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse, but that's the point of the idiom! The exaggeration emphasizes that you can't easily transform something of low value or poor quality into something refined and elegant. It's a way of saying that essential features or characteristics can't be changed quickly.

Other languages have their own ways of expressing the same idea, and some even use silk in their phrases, too. Spanish speakers say Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda ("Even if the monkey dresses in silk, it is still a monkey.") In Russian, the expression Рожденный ползать летать не может means "If you're born to crawl, you can't fly." Finally, French people say On ne peut faire d'une buse un épervier (You can't turn a buzzard / a dolt into a sparrowhawk.)

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When two people love each other, they are always together and know everything about each other, you might say they're "thick as thieves."

The idiom is believed to have arisen in the early 19th century. In this phrase, "thick" means "close". It's a metaphorical way to describe two people who are inseparable, much like saying they are "partners in crime".

In Spanish, a very similar idiom expresses people can be Como carne y uña ("Like flesh and nails"). Graphic, isn't it? The same idea is used in the Portuguese Ser unha e carne.

In other languages, similar expressions use different objects to bring the same concept. For instance, in Finnish, the phrase Kuin kaksi marjaa translates to "like two berries".

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People often resemble one of their parents, whether in appearance or personality and attitudes. And this is where the idiom "Like father, like son" comes in, expressing that similarity.

In other languages, you can find similar idioms. For example, in Portuguese, they say Filho de peixe sabe nadar ("A fish's young knows how to swim.") Russians say От осинки не родятся апельсинки ("Oranges can't grow on an aspen tree.")

Closer to our idiom is the Catalan phrase De tal riu, tal aigua (Like river, like water), and the Spanish De tal palo tal astilla (Like stick, like splinter).

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This idiom comes from the world of hunting. In medieval times, hunters employed an indirect method to capture animals. Instead of pursuing animals directly, they would literally beat the bushes to flush out the creatures hiding there. And that's how we got the phrase "to beat around the bush," which means that someone is being evasive or avoiding a certain topic.

French has a similar idiom to express that someone is diverting or getting distracted from the main path or topic: Y aller par quatre chemins ("To get there by four paths"). In Spanish, you can say Se va por las ramas ("He or she goes along the branches").