MacCartey, Kelli (2004) "different sentiments & different connections supports them" : sensibility, community, and diversity in British women's Romantic-period poetry. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

Preview

Text WRAP_thesis_MacCartey_2004.pdf - Submitted Version Download (15Mb) | Preview

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

With diversity
as an overarching theme, women writers' responses to the
cultural
feminisation and developing social climate of
late eighteenth- and early
nineteenth-century Britain
are explored through analyses of their poems on
sensibility, community, and abolition.
To determine a
focus for
expressive criticism
and recover Romantic women writers
from the social and historical
contexts that have
previously succeeded in highlighting
male literary
achievements, women's poetry is
considered a distinct
contribution to Romanticism. This dissertation analyses poems
written
by Joanna Baillie, Anna Barbauld, Harriet
and Maria Falconar, Frances
Greensted, Frances Greville, Elizabeth Hands, Eliza Knipe, Isabella Lickbarrow,
Hannah More, Amelia Opie, Priscilla Pointon, Mary Robinson, Mary Scott, Helen
Maria Williams, Ann Yearsley, and Mary Julia Young.
Although literature brought together the public and private spheres, sensibility
mediated
between the two and served as a social currency
for
women.
The
various
applications of sensibility are apparent
in its dual-gendered nature,
its link
with
reason, and the significance of economic
language. A
new genre of the "Address to
Sensibility" was prominent
in the period and
followed
a
loose formula
which
defined
sensibility,
traced its
personal
impact,
and
determined
a
link between the Romantic
culture and
heightened
emotion.
Through
explorations of poems on
intellectual
coteries, patronage, creative
influence, Reviews, and
literary
critique,
it is
evident that women poets' affiliations
with the literary
community were marked
by
a
discomfort based on their literary
associations,
the anxiety about their public reception, and the social
differences in the
literary
community.
However, the development
of social,
intellectual, literary,
and
critical communities alleviated this discomfort
and contributed
to women's
participation
in literary
culture.
In
addition, women poets expressed sensibility and used images of community
in diverse ways in their works against slavery and the trade.
Abolitionist
poetry acts
as a case study of the particular motifs,
highlighted throughout, such as the
amalgamation of masculine and
feminine, the political and economic applications of
sensibility, the association of
feeling
with reason and community, and the assertion of
individuality
amidst commonality.
Women
poets' petitions
to alleviate the sufferings
of slaves paralleled arguments
for the improvement
of
British
society to benefit
women.
The poems discussed signify the complexity of the issues of sensibility,
community, and diversity.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PQ Romance literatures P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	English poetry -- 18th century -- History and criticism , English poetry -- 19th century -- History and criticism , Romanticism -- Great Britain, English poetry -- Women authors -- History and criticism, Women and literature -- Great Britain -- 18th century -- History and criticism, Women and literature -- Great Britain -- 19th century -- History and criticism
Official Date:	September 2004
Dates:	Date Event September 2004 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Francis, Emma
Sponsors:	Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (AWMF)
Extent:	vi, 282 leaves
Language:	eng

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads