Representations of Gender in Poetry

I am keen to explore poetic representations of gender with my Year 10 class.   I am particularly keen to explore representations of women in poetry, not least of all because we have spent much of the year thus far learning about male characters in texts composed by men.

However, I am finding it difficult to select poems that offer interesting representations of gender without touching on subjects that are either not considered to be age appropriate, or would be seen by parents as pushing an agenda contrary to the religious/cultural/community beliefs of my students’ families.  For example, I would love to show my class ‘I think she was a she‘ by Leyla Josephine, pairing it with ‘The Mother‘ by Gwendolyn Brooks’.  However, I am not convinced, given what I know about my students’ backgrounds, that parents would be comfortable with their 15 and 16 years old children studying poetry that explores abortion.

As such, and as much as it limits my ability to encourage students to engage with a broad range of gendered perspectives and experiences, I think I am going to need to keep looking.