Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978) was an American poet whose works were infused with a balanced mix of humor, satire, and whimsy, especially in her treatment of suburban life. In 1961, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. A popular poet of her day, McGinley wrote for a wide range of periodicals, from the middlebrow Ladies Home Journal to the highbrow The New Yorker. Often seen as the alter ego of contemporary feminist poets such as Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton – whose works expressed a bitter dissatisfaction with domestic life, Phyllis McGinley embraced her life as a “housewife poet.” For McGinley, true power comes to a woman through her place as the germinating principle of the family structure – and criticized feminists of her day for accepting roles imposed on them by false masculine expectations.
Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978) was an American poet whose works were infused with a balanced mix of humor, satire, and whimsy, especially in her treatment of suburban life. In 1961, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. A popular poet of her day, McGinley wrote for a wide range of periodicals, from the middlebrow Ladies Home Journal to the highbrow The New Yorker. Often seen as the alter ego of contemporary feminist poets such as Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton – whose works expressed a bitter dissatisfaction with domestic life, Phyllis McGinley embraced her life as a “housewife poet.” For McGinley, true power comes to a woman through her place as the germinating principle of the family structure – and criticized feminists of her day for accepting roles imposed on them by false masculine expectations.
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