Carolyn Forché has had a significant impact on contemporary poetry by expanding our understanding of the genre of political poetry and by helping to define and further what she has termed a “poetry of witness” during the past thirty years. The quantity of her literary output has been modest, with one volume of poetry every decade. However, her efforts to remember both the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, Hiroshima, and the war in El Salvador through her poetry stand out as key contributions to a socially responsible literature with a conscience. Forché’s voice is authoritative, reflective, and highly respectful of those people who have suffered and perished due to oppressive political regimes throughout the globe during the last century. The lengthy anthology that she…
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Citation: Strawser, Amy Kepple. "Carolyn Forché". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 February 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1583, accessed 26 November 2024.]
