What is the relationship between desire and the erotic, and the forms and structures of poetry? Impertinent Voices is a candid and revealing study of female poetic forms. Liz Yorke looks closely at the intricate and disruptive poetry of some of the 20th century's greatest poets: Sylvia Plath, Adrienne Rich, H.D. and Audre Lourde. And she brings the theories of Irigaray, Cixous and Kristeva to bear on her own clear analysis of the ways in which feminist meanings have been forged within poetic and cultural structures. In their struggle with a language which has excluded female subjectivity, the impertinent voices of women poets break open the cultural moulds, precipitating new beginnings and new ways of looking at the world. Detailed close readings of the poems is here matched with clear theoretical interrogation. This book should be of interest to students and teachers of literature, modern poetry, literary theory, women's studies, lesbian studies, cultural studies and American studies.