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Paper: Shaped by the Stars, Reshaped by the Poet
Volume: 468, Engaging the Heavens: Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena V
Page: 155
Authors: Keck, K. R.
Abstract: Explicitly, Adrienne Rich's poem “Planetarium” contrasts the lives and fates of two observational astronomers, Tycho Brahe and Caroline Herschel. The poem further suggests that the masculine values that dominate society are reflected in the naming of female constellations and uses this imagery to underscore gender inequality. The poem also includes a reference to the pulsar, the discovery of which, when announced in early 1968, created excitement among astronomers and the public. Jocelyn Bell Burnell seems implicitly to be among the “others” of the poem's subtitle.
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