Meryl Streep narrates this hour-long documentary special about how a generation of women poets radically changed the American poetry. "A Change of World" tells the story of how poets who were swept up in the Women’s Movement of the 1960s and 70s radically changed American poetry. As poet Alicia Ostriker says, "For the first time in the history of writing, which is about 4000 years or so, women could write without fear, without constantly looking over their shoulder to see if they were going to be approved of by men.” Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique was a primary catalyst of The Women’s Movement. In poetry, it was Sylvia Plath’s book “Ariel,” which electrified a generation of women poets. In the face of continuing sexism in the literary establishment, women poets began forming their own informal communities, with readings, magazines, bookstores, workshops and mentorships. Hear about this movement from poets who participated, like Sharon Olds, Judy Grahn, Sonia Sanchez, Susan Griffin.
A Change of World: Poetry and the Women’s Movement
