SOURCE: "Bells and Cupolas: The Formative Role of the Female Body in Marina Tsvetaeva's Poetry," in Slavic Review, Vol. 51, No. 2, Summer, 1992, pp. 232-46.

In the following excerpt, Forrester explores the relationship between the female body and Moscow architecture, particularly the church, in Tsvetaeva's poetry.

Like many other Russian women writers, Marina Tsvetaeva did not merely include women's language and physical experience in her poetry; they were central to her concern with poetry and poetic creation. These elements of her work have in recent years evoked an interest from women readers and feminist scholars of Russian literature which is reflected in the number of studies devoted to aspects of her work. Antonina Gove discusses the presence and chronological development of female roles in Tsvetaeva's poetry ["The Feminine Stereotype and Beyond: Role Conflict and Resolution in the Poetics of Marina Tsvetaeva," Slavic Review, Vol. 36, 1977]; Anya Kroth illustrates the importance of...