Sculpture and Silence: Laura Riding and her Female Contemporaries

Laura Riding's poetry has been neglected by critics and excluded from the modernist canon. In re-reading Riding I will trace her connections to other writers in modernist periodicals, thereby positioning her within a wider network of her female contemporaries. Building upon my Master's research, which identified Riding and Mina Loy's similarly sculptural approach to poetry, I will interrogate Riding's engagement with sculpture as a silent art form in relation to other transatlantic female modernist poets in early twentieth century Europe. In focusing on visual art and silence, this thesis will offer a vital feminist revision and re-evaluation of Riding's poetic voice.