Suffrage Songs and Verses, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a collection of 25 poems which advocates the suffragette movement and womenâs rights. Published in 1911, the poetry anthology includes both famous and lesser-known works such as âWomen of To-dayâ, âBoys Will Be Boysâ and âThe Socialist and the Suffragistâ, and is a clear inspiration for modern feminist writers and pro-womenâs rights campaigners. Now seen as a classic selection of American female poetry and inspirational literature, this forward-thinking anthology examines the role of women in a pre-WW1 patriarchal society â and was one of many works to inspire the 2015 British historical drama film âSuffragetteâ which starred Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep, Helena Bonham Carter and AnneâMarie Duff. A selection of Perkinsâ work featured in this book were originally published in the book âIn this our Worldâ in 1898. Charlotte Perkins Gilmanâs best known work was her autobiographical-inspired short story âThe Yellow Wallpaperâ, written about her experience of severe postnatal depression, which was made into a 2011 gothic thriller film by Logan Thomas.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, also known as Charlotte Perkins Stetson, was born on 3rd July 1860 in Connecticut, USA. Her early family life was troubled, with her father abandoning his wife and family; a move which strongly influenced her feminist political leanings and advocator of womenâs rights. After jobs as a tutor and painter, Perkins â a self-declared humanist and âtom boyâ â began to work as a writer of short stories, novels, non-fiction pieces and poetry. Her best-known work is her semi-autobiographical short story, inspired by her post-natal depression, entitled âThe Yellow Wallpaperâ which was published in 1892 and made into a film in 2011. A member of the American National Women's Hall of Fame, Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a strong believer that "the domestic environment oppressed women through the patriarchal beliefs upheld by society". A believer in euthanasia, she was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer in January 1932 and chose to take her own life in August 1935, writing in her suicide note that she "chose chloroform over cancer".