25 18th Century Women Poets

Ms. Keerthana B

1.0.Background:

The eighteenth century was a period of riots and revolts which ended up with the French revolution and Napoleonic wars. Increasing crimes, poverty, wars, homelessness, and dilemmas on education were the existing social issues. Interregnum, regicides, the Glorious revolution, the French revolution and Napoleonic wars were terrifying the British Empire. The alarming symbols of ideological battle were Jacobite rebellions, the Sacheverell, Wilkite and Gordon riots, which had an impact on the thoughts of people at the cost of time. Experiencing such miseries had never stopped them in expanding their territory around the globe. By the end of the first half of the eighteenth century, the British Empire had become the landlord of the Eastern India, most of the peninsular regions, Ganges Valley, coastal lines of Ceylon and the island of Mauritius. Even though Britishers were busy in accelerating their international trade and commerce with other countries, it still continued to be a rural and agrarian society. Encroaching the other nations’ lands, they had still considered themselves as benevolent hearted persons.

Having understood the background, poets (both men and women) used all these issues as their subjects in their writings. Their style of writing had changes as changing contexts were witnessed in the society. Words were borrowed from French and those were used in poems to have a better rhythmic sense. Such poems were used as a means of communication, which had a great increase in number as it displayed wit, social grace and accomplishment. The poems were a replica of the real life, where it taught the middle class how to dress in the public. It had also explained the general behaviour in the gatherings and how to enhance their grace and beauty as age pass by. A few examples to illustrate the above are, Ann Murry’s The Card Party, A Town Eclogue; Clara Reeve’s To a Coquet, Disappointed of a Party of Pleasure, and Anne Finch’s Clarinda’s Indifference at Parting with Her Beauty. All such poetries had a respect for women’s talents and gender. By 1745, almost thirty periodical journals appeared regularly.

1.1.The Act of Reviewing:

Reviewing the poems had become a common phenomenon in the new print- rich world, where women’s feedback on poems was presented to the author and public as well. It gave a rapid advancement to women’s writing in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. By 1685, poetries written by women had become trendy and fashionable. Even though the history of women’s writings had struggled with constrictions and repressions, it bloomed with fragrance in the eighteenth century. It was widely accepted by people and several works like Thomas Seward’s ‘‘The Female Right to Literature’’ (1748), Dodsley’s Collections and The Lady’s Poetical Magazine (1782) were reviewed and reprinted frequently. By the middle of the century, the periodicals and anthologies had a better framing of poetries written by women, as a sense of respect and gratitude. One such example is Edward Cave’s Gentleman’s Magazine, which had published two columns of poetry with eight pages in the selected issues of 1733 and in all issues from 1735. By the end of 1745, thirty journals were regularly published, even though some were short lived and by 1780’s, the publications had made sure that they published the latest ones as readers demanded for the fresh novels including classics written by renowned poets like Spenser, Milton and Pope.

2.0.Women writings in periodicals and anthologies:

This era was providing a good accommodation to women’s writings and it was evident in A Letter from Artemesia in theTown to Chloe in the Country, written by John Wilmot, where the author has expressed that ‘Cursed if you fail, and scorned though you succeed!’ In fact, Mary Masters published her first volume of poetry as Poetry on Several Occasions. She had also published By a Young Gentleman in 1724 but the edition of 1733 had written her name in the golden letters of history. A challenge to her work ‘To a Gentleman who questioned my being the Author of the foregoing Verses’ was posed by Anne Killigrew’s ‘Upon the Saying That My Verses Were Made by Another’ (1686), where Mary had mocked at Killigrew that her readers knew a good number of poets than she had known. Even though both of their works are highly polished, Killigrew’s heroic couplets are filled with classical allusions which are unlike Master’s simple vernacular language, with occasional reference to poetic diction.

Meanwhile, learning among women had a steady growth and in fact, had become fashionable. Male authors had started writing about women and their nature and behaviour, as women readers were high in number and they had expected such stories/ poetries about women. For instance, Thomas Seward’s ‘The Female Right to Literature’ (1748) and John Duncombe’s ‘The Feminiad’ were praised and frequently reprinted. Duncombe treated women as the source of national pride. The era, where a women literate was looked as a miracle had dusked and the era of wide acceptance of women poets had dawned. Katherine Philips and Aphra Behn had proved that poetries are equally possible for middle class women. ‘Poems by Eminent Ladies’ by George Colman and Bonnell Thornton had praised those two female giants and Behn was titled to be an excellent poet with twenty seven poems acknowledged. While, Philips was represented by eleven poems and both of them had set the canon for women’s poetry. While Behn’s poetry revolved around female friendship, celebrating the circle of privacy, Philips’s talked about the public debates and a finally, little about private relationships. Yet, the quality of Behn’s writings was extraordinary and she was praised by Daniel Defoe in ‘The Pacificator’ (1700). She had been invited by legends like Dryden to commercial poetic ventures, yet continued writing friendship and pastoral poems. Philips had also published two plays (1663 and 1664 respectively), becoming the first woman to produce a play on Dublin and London stages. By the end of seventeenth century, Philips was an established poet as equal to men while Behn was on her way. Becoming good readers, women recognized the power of chastity versus transgressive paradigm and most of the women found Philips to be congenial as many of her poems were addressed to friends or role models or to other women poets such as Mary Astell, Elizabeth Montagu, and Queen Caroline. Yet Behn influenced many women due to her strong insistence on opining about public issues.

2.1.Themes:

Even though, the first two decades of eighteenth century poets had a diversified group, they had access to libraries and also got some leisure time write. The number of women poets enlarged in the mid- century as the women from working class too published various poetries. The theme of such poetries revolved around morality and thus, moral issues were discussed in detail throughout the century. This situation in the world of poetry was criticised by Elizabeth Eger that “It is perhaps difficult to realize the central significance of poetry within eighteenth-century culture in relation to a developing sense of morality.” In reply to this comment, Behn had included social and political judgement in her poetries, epilogues, and prologues. Thus, the shining star of the first half of the eighteenth century was Behn, whose style of writing was more absorbed by many other latter poets than Philips. Poets like Anne Finch, who had written poems based on politics and feminine inwardness and had set a style for lyrical poetry which could dominate the next century, was a follower of Behn’s style. Other poets like Sarah Fyge Egerton, Mary Barber, Mary Jones, Clara Reeve, Mary Darwall, and Anna Laetitia Barbauld had different styles of writing but their theme was around the same. In fact, they had made poetry as the public platform in which the political views and private life could meet. Religion was imposed on poetry by the majority as that defined their identity in terms of morality. A few had a vision about the eternal world and wrote about the earthly consequences. A few others like Charlotte Smith and Anna Seward, in the second half of the century, thought themselves as the people of sensibility. They had expressed the horror and violence at its peak and also elaborated the insensitivity that was prevailing in the society. Having perceived their rights and understood that they have right to intervene in national debates, poets like Anna Seward, and Hannah More have written about the concept of anti- slavery, looking at the innocent slavers suffering in France. Women had taken a step ahead and had not only portrayed their emotions through poems but also via art. They had advocated for the elevation of humankind and thus, it went far beyond just elicitation to feel, think and respond.

Faith was underlying in most of the early women poetries. Behn, Jane Barker, Finch, and other women wrote eloquently about the Stuarts. A few others like Yearsley, Seward, Amelia Opie, More, and a few other women had written about torrent of war and abolitionist poetry at the end of the eighteenth century. These poets had grown up watching Charlotte Smith’s success, and thus, they became more engaged with history and were more willing to assume an evaluative and even prophetic stance. They had insisted on writing about the social issues, especially the radical ones like Smith.

Certain concepts that were repeated were wars, wilderness, catastrophes, and symbols such as ocean. The works of Balmire are related to war fields of England and her ballads of love are animated by the effects of ordinary citizens. Similarly, the foreign countries are denoted as wilderness and or distant, bleak plains dyed red in blood. Ocean was considered as a powerful symbol as it meant the global reach of the empire. Anne Bannerman, in her poem ‘Genii’ (1800) had talked about the catastrophes like earthquake to give a threatening sound. It is also filled with the horror sounds, creating a dramatic imagery.

2.2.Formation of Reading Societies and Clubs:

The books were never less expensive but were more feasible as newspaper societies were formed. The literates had read out to the illiterates in the public spaces. Women had invited for gatherings, not just to enjoy but to spread the joy of reading. Coffeehouses and small shops were subscribing to periodicals and newspapers to withhold the patrons in their shops. As the number of readers increased, the number of reading societies, circles and clubs too increased. As a result, auctions for books, library subscriptions, and used book stalls had bloomed by mid- century. Literature was the means of entertainment in the eighteenth century and poetry had been marked with distinction. By 1770’s, the public including commons like artisans, farmers and their wives too enjoyed the essence of literature. As a consequence, the three popular activities performed during any gathering were singing, reading aloud and public poetry recitations.

The women poets took this as a chance to shift the act of singing from private and public and had performed on the stage in public. A number of poems were titled song. In fact, some new buds had emerged as poets with initial recognition to songs as Mary Jones did to ‘The Lass of the Hill’ and a few others like Susanna Blamire had written numerous songs. Carolina and Baroness Nairne had rewritten the traditional Scottish songs, which retained their fame for more than fifty years. As recitation and reading had become common social skills, affordable ones called out their relatives to their homes as a part of prayer ceremony and read out religious poetry. It was later extended to other poetries as well, as the books were expensive and thus, was not affordable to everyone. As the sessions happen, the ladies were engaged in making ruffles, border, flowering and patterns. Most of such poems were simple in language, short and topical, and thus, it was evident that the culture of working and listening was budding. It was taken forward and actors had started reciting the poems in the form of puppet shows, country dances, and card playing and thus, had become a public entertainment.

In contrast, Sarah Siddons, a Welsh born actress, thus, King George had named her “Preceptress of English Reading” as she had read poetries in public gatherings, in her home, and in small public halls. She had also read Milton, whose works are considered to be “great”. As she had already gained fame, she started reciting her poems and she had brought in feminine accomplishment of writing occasional verse. While reciting, reviewers had found that she had distanced herself from the audience, and she was hiding her own expressions and feelings. Finally, she had recited a poem at her farewell address in Convent Garden, 1812. Similar recitations had already happened, for instance, Mary Pritchard had done at her retirement in 1768; and Mary Robinson had recited Shakespeare throughout her poetic career.

3.0.Outcomes at the end of the Eighteenth Century:

By the end of the century, women were the major producers, consumers and performers of the poetry. Books about such women like Poems by Eminent Ladies, and for such women like Goldsmith’s Poems for Young Ladies, had joined the club of ever growing volumes. The shift of tradition of poetry was from politics to the engaged large and diversified audience who either cared about quality or followed fashion. In fact, the editor of ‘The Lady’s Poetical Magazine’ had commented that women had sought equal power with mankind by means of poetry. This meant that poetry was well established deeper in the people’s ideologies of self, class and nation.

Also, many women poets had become “work integrated” as opposed to “work adapted”. For instance, female poets like Sarah Fyge Egerton, Mary Barber, Laetitia Pilkington, Charlotte Smith, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, and Anna Seward had led a life, consistently working on poetry with hard work and dedication like the canonical men. It was different from Behn and Philips, that they had Finch, Montagu, Chudleigh, Carter, and Rowe, who had written numerous poems with great progress and ambition but were not setting their lives only to poems.

The shift in themes, due to the emergence of romanticism was also witnessed at the end of this century. Authors had started sketching about the natural habitat in which they had lived unlike the previous decades, where they had written about the formal gardens, and landscapes. As women from with varying social and economic background like, washerwomen to duchesses had a niche in print, a variety of genre with different themes and backgrounds had bloomed.

3.1.Issues:

1.   Gender

The issues regarding such writings are many. One such is gender, where women’s poems were undervalued than the men’s. It is evident that in some of women’s writings, they had felt that coming in terms with sex was vital in attaining social position than accomplishment. Poetry was used as a tool to attain the same. It is actually surprising to note that women’s poetries were not given for revisions and thus, did not have a sustained study. Women’s signature poems are never found like men’s. As important writers have distinctive styles, signature poems and categories, they were considered as inventors and not reproducers. But in the case of women poetry, it was considered as reproduction as women preferred writing conventional literary forms. For instance, one of the most reprinted poems of eighteenth century was Anne Finch’s ‘The Spleen’, which is considered to be unreadable in today’s feminist society. The two most promising scholars of Finch have remarked this poem as “out of favour”. As most of the modern readers don’t appreciate the complicate structure and the metaphysical bent, this poem had become a disliked one.

2.   Genre

The choice of genre was a deciding tool to understand the educational and the social background of the author. This is not the truth in case of women poets as they were nurtured to work within the conventions created and shaped by men. The taste of ‘the men’ was witnessed in most of the poems because of their readings on such male poets. Women could write about the concepts such as marriage and women’s position within the system which men did not think of but the pertinent issue was relating the position of women to society. Collectively, women’s writings had opposed the view of women to be victim and love object, but they had treated themselves as ‘the other’ with respect to society. To overcome such situations, the eighteenth century’s women’s writings is full of voices and the women poets had made self as dramatic characters like Mary Barber’s ‘To a Lady, who commanded me to send her an Account in Verse, how I succeeded in my Subscription’ and Pope’s ‘Epistle to Arbuthnot’. This was considered to be a liberating and enjoyable technique for women.

3. Agency and “marked markers”

Agency and “marked markers” are inter-related concepts which modern thinkers criticize about the eighteenth century poems. Author’s sex is noted more than the author’s writings when one reads a poem. When the sex is revealed, the voice is set to the perception in which author writes. Placing it in eighteenth century context, it is actually true as it was not only read for the purpose of novelty but also to know more about the sex and their behaviour. The most debilitating effect of being this ‘‘marked marker’’ is that agency, that is, the ability and will to act purposefully, independently, and self-consciously, is largely denied. As Gayatri Spivak explains, ‘the subject must identify itself with its self-perceived intention’’, which was very much absent in the case of women writers. Many other modern critics like Joanna Russ (How to Suppress Women’s Writing), Anne Killigrew (Upon the Saying My Verses Were Made by Another), and Charlotte Lennox (The Female Quixote) had talked about women’s agency. The hunger that was witnessed in women’s poetry was to create a beautiful poetry in terms of symmetry, aesthetics, and other technical aspects like rhythm and music. This is unlike the ones who had agency. For instance, Mary Robinson was self-defined and also had a willingness to express her moods and emotions with confidence. In her poem, Ode to the Muse (1791), she was open and had clearly discussed the purpose of her poetry in sixteen lines.

4.0.Conclusion:

To conclude, the British poets, who lived in eighteenth century had witnessed the birth of romanticism and the influence of the same was evident, where the poems were less constrained and more individualistic. This change was witnessed towards the end of the eighteenth century. A new emphasis was seen in the feelings and sentiments of the poet, which was seen a little earlier with the women poets as they had already moved out of the boundary lines of men’s thoughts. As women were shaped by men in their thoughts, their poetries too had an influence of romanticism in the later part of eighteenth century. They had crossed the borders of convention and had started writing in new style with new themes, which men had not thought of. This was the phase when radical writings had started emerging. Even then, when compared to men, women’s writings were scarcely found although more number of women were practicing. Factors like disapproval of feminine forwardness had kept them out of the printing world. They had minimal reviews, which caused an imbalance to their steady growth. They had felt the need to fight back as they were scaled lower to men and came up with poetries of various genres, which made the women’s poetry flourish by 1790’s. Notable “literary ladies” in the later period include Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Joanna Baillie, Susanna Blamire, Felicia Hemans, Mary Leapor, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Hannah More, and Mary Robinson.

The main reason for looking them back is to reclaim them and make them available in the contemporary editions or online, which would retell the history and culture of this era to the present generations. Second, to position and evaluate them within the literary tradition.

So, looking back through reading their literature would make the readers more sensitive towards the societal and cultural background.

Thus, Literature is a record of events that makes a call to humanity, and it has always supplied humankind with beauty, intellectual stimulation, pleasure, and inspiration. It makes us cry, laugh, express, and especially cares for the victims, may it be of any category. Eighteenth century women poets too have recorded their lifestyle and a series of events in the form of literature. The world of good literature is never complete without Anne Finch’s ‘Nocturnal Reverie’, Elizabeth Rowe’s ‘Canticles’, Lady Mary’s ‘Epistle from Mrs. Yonge’, Charlotte Smith’s ‘Written at Penshurst, in autumn’ 1788, and ‘Disaster’ by Mary Savage, who are the literary ladies of the eighteenth century.

References:

• Backscheider, Paula R. Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and Their Poetry: Inventing Agency, Inventing Genre. JHU Press, 2005.
• Barash, Carol. English Women’s Poetry, 1649-1714: Politics, Community, and Linguistic Authority. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996.
• Ferguson, Moira. Eighteenth-Century Women Poets: Nation, Class, and Gender. SUNY Press, 1995.
• Ingrassia, Catherine, editor. “Guide to Further Reading.” The Cambridge Companion to Women’s Writing in Britain, 1660–1789, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015, pp. 226–241. Cambridge Companions to Literature.
• Lonsdale, Roger, and Roger H. Lonsdale, eds. Eighteenth century women poets: an Oxford anthology. Oxford University Press, USA, 1990.