Understanding Marge Piercy

An examination of form and theme in Piercy's acclaimed poetry, fiction, and nonfiction

Grounded in feminism, political activism, and Jewish spirituality, Marge Piercy's work includes more than thirty volumes of poetry, as well as fiction written over nearly five decades. Her poetry fuses political, domestic, and autobiographical spheres with imagery drawn from nature, sensual and dream memories, and Jewish mysticism. Exploring the choices people make and how their decisions are shaped by a multitude of factors, her novels include personal and family histories, societal belief systems, and social circumstances. Piercy's works of poetry have received the Golden Rose Award, May Sarton Award, Barbara Bradley Award, and Paterson Prize, and her fiction has been recognized with the Sheaffer–PEN/New England Award and Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Donna M. Bickford offers a brief biographical sketch of Piercy and a discussion of the major themes revealed in her essays and nonfiction. Bickford then treats Piercy's novels in four broadly thematic and chronological groups: the early coming-of-age novels (Small Changes, Vida, and Braided Lives), the historical novels (Gone to Soldiers and Sex Wars), the utopian/dystopian novels (Women on the Edge of Time and He, She and It), and the domestic novels (Fly Away Home and The Longings of Women). Bickford also explores Piercy's poetry and discusses her forms and themes while engaging some of her observations about the practice of writing.