“Among his pots and pans”: Domestic Work and Gender Roles in Mina Loy’s Florentine Poems, 1914-1915

Abstract

This essay examines a selection of poems written by British-born poet and artist Mina Loy (1882-1966) in 1914-1915, while living in Florence. These poems constitute Loy’s early poetic production, effectively marking her beginning as a writer. In these poems from and about Florence, Loy observes, and comments on, Italian women’s lives and their involvement in domestic (or household) work. Looking closely at these poems, and the representation of Italian women’s lives in them, enables us to better understand Loy’s own development as a feminist in tandem with her critique of gender roles in early twentieth-century Italian society. The poems discussed in this essay include “Italian Pictures”, “The Effectual Marriage or the Insipid Narrative of Gina and Miovanni”, and “Virgins Plus Curtains Minus Dots”.