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JOB'S DAUGHTER by Jean Starr Untermeyer

JOB'S DAUGHTER

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Pub Date: Oct. 26th, 1967
Publisher: Norton

The poems in this collection cover a wide range, both in time and in emotional experience. The early selections (one dating back to 1914) are full of a youthful struggle toward lyricism and identity; several are written to her mother, father, brother and sister. Then the conflict between love and motherhood, and the eternal feminine problem of art (separate identity) versus the unquestioning duties of women splits the poems into protests, passion, or abstract comments, such as a long poem about Eve's reflections on Adam. A kind of peace, and a deep acceptance, fills the later poems. It is traditional poetry, its feeling somewhat muted by its form; graceful rather than arresting. But there is considerable charm in its tidy phrasings and aphorisms, and in the sense of a young spirit struggling through life, poetry, and pain toward a serene, aware maturity. The poet is the one-time wife of Louis Untermeyer, and has published several volumes of poetry, memoirs, and translations.