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Acknowledgments This book is the fruit of many years’ labor. I am grateful to family , friends, colleagues, and students who have encouraged me, put up with me, guided me, and enriched my understanding of the poetry. I am particularly indebted to my scholarly mentors Mary Free and Gordon Braden; to Susan Wadsworth-Booth, Albert Labriola, and Kathy McLaughlin of Duquesne University Press; and to the anonymous reader who commented on the manuscript for the press. All of these people read my work in progress at various stages and helped me to shape and discipline a sometimes unruly manuscript. I of course take full responsibility for the book’s remaining flaws. This study has in it—as do many scholarly books—an element of autobiography; it springs from my own experience of the sacred feminine as exemplified by the women who have inspired me, supported me in my family life and in my scholarship , and come to my assistance whenever I needed help: my grandmothers, Teresa and Lucrezia; my mother, Charlotte; my sisters, Catherine and Maria; my mother-in-law, Kathleen; and her mother, Sophie. It also reflects the love and support of my husband Lee and our son Dominic, who enable my own imperfect but ardent efforts to embody the sacred feminine. xiii ...

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