The Poetry of Elizabeth Singer Rowe (1674-1737)

The Poetry of Elizabeth Singer Rowe (1674-1737)
Author: Elizabeth Singer Rowe
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
Total Pages: 392
Release: 1987
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

This volume is devoted to the work of Elizabeth Singer Rowe, a poet once greatly admired by such writers as Samuel Johnson, Isaac Watts, and Matthew Prior. It offers a worthy addition to the canon of late 17th-century and early 18th-century literature.

Elizabeth Singer Rowe and the Development of the English Novel

Elizabeth Singer Rowe and the Development of the English Novel
Author: Paula R. Backscheider
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2013-03-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1421408422

Elizabeth Singer Rowe played a pivotal role in the development of the novel during the eighteenth century. Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of the Choice ACRL Elizabeth Singer Rowe and the Development of the English Novel is the first in-depth study of Rowe’s prose fiction. A four-volume collection of her work was a bestseller for a hundred years after its publication, but today Rowe is a largely unrecognized figure in the history of the novel. Although her poetry was appreciated by poets such as Alexander Pope for its metrical craftsmanship, beauty, and imagery, by the time of her death in 1737 she was better known for her fiction. According to Paula R. Backscheider, Rowe's major focus in her novels was on creating characters who were seeking a harmonious, contented life, often in the face of considerable social pressure. This quest would become the plotline in a large number of works in the second half of the eighteenth century, and it continues to be a major theme today in novels by women. Backscheider relates Rowe’s work to popular fiction written by earlier writers as well as by her contemporaries. Rowe had a lasting influence on major movements, including the politeness (or gentility) movement, the reading revolution, and the Bluestocking society. The author reveals new information about each of these movements, and Elizabeth Singer Rowe emerges as an important innovator. Her influence resulted in new types of novel writing, philosophies, and lifestyles for women. Backscheider looks to archival materials, literary analysis, biographical evidence, and a configuration of cultural and feminist theories to prove her groundbreaking argument.

Elizabeth Singer [Rowe]

Elizabeth Singer [Rowe]
Author: Jennifer Richards
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2017-03-02
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1351940945

Printed Writings 1641-1700: Series II, Part Two, consists of seven volumes of writings as follows: Volume 1: An Collins Volume 2: Alicia D'Anvers Volume 3: 'Eliza' Volume 4: Amey Hayward Volume 5: Anne Killigrew Volume 6: Elizabeth Major Volume 7: Elizabeth Singer [Rowe]

Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and Their Poetry

Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and Their Poetry
Author: Paula R. Backscheider
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 866
Release: 2005-12-31
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0801895901

“Our sense of eighteenth-century poetic territory is immeasurably expanded by [this] excellent historical and cultural” study of UK women poets of the era (Cynthia Wall, Studies in English Literature). This major work offers a broad view of the writing and careers of eighteenth-century women poets, casting new light on the ways in which poetry was read and enjoyed, on changing poetic tastes in British culture, and on the development of many major poetic genres and traditions. Rather than presenting a chronological survey, Paula R. Backscheider explores the forms in which women wrote and the uses to which they put those forms. Considering more than forty women in relation to canonical male writers of the same era, she concludes that women wrote in all of the genres that men did but often adapted, revised, and even created new poetic kinds from traditional forms. Backscheider demonstrates that knowledge of these women’s poetry is necessary for an accurate and nuanced literary history. Within chapters on important verse forms, she sheds light on such topics as women’s use of religious poetry to express ideas about patriarchy and rape; the important role of friendship poetry; same-sex desire in elegy by women as well as by men; and the status of Charlotte Smith as a key figure of the long eighteenth century, not only as a Romantic-era poet. Co-Winner, James Russell Lowell Prize, Modern Language Association

Poetic Sisters

Poetic Sisters
Author: Deborah Kennedy
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2013
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1611484855

In Poetic Sisters, Deborah Kennedy explores the personal and literary connections among five early eighteenth-century women poets: Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea; Elizabeth Singer Rowe; Frances Seymour, Countess of Hertford; Sarah Dixon; and Mary Jones. Richly illustrated and elegantly written, this book brings the eighteenth century to life, presenting a diverse range of material from serious religious poems to amusing verses on domestic life. The work of Anne Finch, author of "A Nocturnal Reverie," provides the cornerstone for this well informed study. But it was Elizabeth Rowe who achieved international fame for her popular religious writings. Both women influenced the Countess of Hertford, who wrote about the beauty of nature, centuries before modern Earth Day celebrations. Sarah Dixon, a middle-class writer from Kent, had a strong moral outlook and stood up for those whose voices needed to be heard, including her own. Finally, Mary Jones, who lived in Oxford, was praised for both her genius and her sense of humor. Poetic Sisters presents a fascinating female literary network, revealing the bonds of a shared vocation that unites these writers. It also traces their literary afterlife from the eighteenth century to the present day, with references to contemporary culture, demonstrating how their work resonates with new generations of readers.

Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750-1850

Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750-1850
Author: Devoney Looser
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2008-08-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0801887054

This groundbreaking study explores the later lives and late-life writings of more than two dozen British women authors active during the long eighteenth century. Drawing on biographical materials, literary texts, and reception histories, Devoney Looser finds that far from fading into moribund old age, female literary greats such as Anna Letitia Barbauld, Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Catharine Macaulay, Hester Lynch Piozzi, and Jane Porter toiled for decades after they achieved acclaim -- despite seemingly concerted attempts by literary gatekeepers to marginalize their later contributions. Though these remarkable women wrote and published well into old age, Looser sees in their late careers the necessity of choosing among several different paths. These included receding into the background as authors of "classics," adapting to grandmotherly standards of behavior, attempting to reshape masculinized conceptions of aged wisdom, or trying to create entirely new categories for older women writers. In assessing how these writers affected and were affected by the culture in which they lived, and in examining their varied reactions to the prospect of aging, Looser constructs careful portraits of each of her Subjects and explains why many turned toward retrospection in their later works. In illuminating the powerful and often poorly recognized legacy of the British women writers who spurred a marketplace revolution in their earlier years only to find unanticipated barriers to acceptance in later life, Looser opens up new scholarly territory in the burgeoning field of feminist age studies.

The Cambridge Companion to Women's Writing in Britain, 1660–1789

The Cambridge Companion to Women's Writing in Britain, 1660–1789
Author: Catherine Ingrassia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2015-04-20
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 131629823X

Women writers played a central role in the literature and culture of eighteenth-century Britain. Featuring essays on female writers and genres by leading scholars in the field, this Companion introduces readers to the range, significance and complexity of women's writing across multiple genres in Britain between 1660 and 1789. Divided into two parts, the Companion first discusses women's participation in print culture, featuring essays on topics such as women and popular culture, women as professional writers, women as readers and writers, and place and publication. Additionally, part one explores the ways women writers crossed generic boundaries. The second part contains chapters on many of the key genres in which women wrote including poetry, drama, fiction (early and later), history, the ballad, periodicals, and travel writing. The Companion also provides an introduction surveying the state of the field, an integrated chronology, and a guide to further reading.

Poetry and the Feminine from Behn to Cowper

Poetry and the Feminine from Behn to Cowper
Author: Jennifer Keith
Publisher: University of Delaware Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2005
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780874138917

Poetry and the Feminine from Behn to Cowper revisits the foundations of poetic representation and value for women and men poets of the Restoration and eighteenth century including Aphra Behn, John Dryden, Anne Killigrew, Anne Finch, and Alexander Pope. The author argues that fundamental to poetic innovation in this era are poets' revisions of feminine figures such as the muse and nature. Feminine Nature serves these poets as an infinitely expandable category of form that allows them to redefine poetry and poetic subjectivity. These poetic innovations include exploring the very grounds of mimesis, dismantling the hierarchy of poetic kinds, and using sensibility to yoke aesthetic and ethical values. Using an inclusive framework, the author presents a history of poetic change through women's and men's complex dialogues with poetic contexts and conventions. Jennifer Keith is Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Radicalism in British Literary Culture, 1650-1830

Radicalism in British Literary Culture, 1650-1830
Author: Timothy Morton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2009-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 052112087X

Publisher Description (unedited publisher data) In this volume of interdisciplinary essays, leading scholars examine the radical tradition in British literary culture from the English Revolution to the French Revolution. They chart continuities between the two periods and examine the recuperation of ideas and texts from the earlier period in the 1790s and beyond. Contributors utilize a variety of approaches and concepts: from gender studies, the cultural history of food and diet and the history of political discourse, to explorations of the theatre, philosophy and metaphysics. This volume argues that the radical agendas of the mid-seventeenth century, intended to change society fundamentally, did not disappear throughout the long eighteenth-century only to be resuscitated at its close. Rather, through close textual analysis, these essays indicate a more continuous transmission. Library of Congress subject headings for this publication: English literature 18th century History and criticism, Radicalism in literature, English literature Early modern, 1500-1700 History and criticism, English literature 19th century History and criticism, Revolutionary literature, English History and criticism, Politics and literature Great Britain History, Radicalism Great Britain History.