I found this poem in Virginia Woolf’s (1882-1941) marvellous essay A Room of One’s Own. Some call it the best essay of the 20^th century. Her topic is “women and fiction,” but she wanders widely and wonderfully. Her essay, which is based on a talk she gave at Girton College, Cambridge,  is funny and much more enjoyable to read than her novels. The poem comes from the notes she took in the British Library trying to find books to answer the question “Why are women poor?”

She has observed that almost all the books in the library are written by men and that men are obsessed with writing about women. “Are you [women] aware that you are, perhaps, the most discussed animal in the universe?…Why are women, judging from this catalogue, so much more interesting to men than men are to women?…Why does Samuel Butler say, ‘Wise men never say what they think of women?’ Wise men never say anything else apparently.” Before sharing her list, Woolf writes: “Professors, schoolmasters, sociologists, clergymen, novelists, essayists, journalists, men who had no qualification save that they were not women, chased my simple and single question–Why are women poor?”

Woolf would not call this a poem, and I’m note sure of the idea of a “found poem”—like “found sculpture”—was around at the time. These are entries from her notebook, but I’m sure that there was some selection in the list. Her list would, I’m sure, have drawn laughs from her audience of young women.

Women and Poverty: a found poem by Virginia Woolf

Condition in Middle Ages of,

Habits in the Fiji Islands of,

Worshipped as goddesses by,

Weaker in moral sense than,

Idealism of,

Greater conscientiousness of,

South Sea Islanders, age of puberty among,

Attractiveness of,

Offered as sacrifice to,

Small size of brain of,

Profounder sub-consciousness of,

Less hair on the body of,

Mental, moral and physical inferiority of,

Love of children of,

Greater length of life of,

Weaker muscles of,

Strength of affections of,

Vanity of,

Higher education of,

Shakespeare’s opinion of,

Lord Birkenhead’s opinion of,

Dean Inge’s opinion of,

La Bruyère’s opinion of,

Dr. Johnson’s opinion of,

Mr. Oscar Browning’s opinion of,…