The Male Image; Representations of Masculinity in Postwar Poetry

How does post-war poetry explore what it means to a man: the experiences of the male body, of masculine identity and the links between the two? Ian Gregson's book discusses conventional expectations about male power--how the acquisition and maintenance of such power is a source of both prestige and vulnerability, so that the penis can appear significantly fragile in comparison with the phallus. In this, the first study of post-war poetry which draws upon recent theoretical insights into masculinity, it is shown how masculinity is represented by women poets and gay poets, but the focus is on mostly straight males. Robert Lowell and John Berryman both identified a gender malaise in themselves which they struggled with throughout their careers, and Derek Walcott's work displays a profound gender insecurity in relation to the colonial experience. The impact on Ted Hughes and Seamus Heany of their belief in a transcendent feminine principle is discussed, together with the way in which C.K. Williams and Paul Muldoon displayed the impact of feminism on male poets young enough to have encountered it at a formative period.

Ian Gregson is Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Wales, Bangor.