Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

It is hate! black, lasting, deadly hate!Which thus hath driven me forth from kindred peace.from social pleasure, from my native home.To be a sullen wand'rer on the earth.Avoiding all men, cursing and accurs'd.[De Monfort, 2.2]First published anonymously in 1798, these lines allude to the basic polarities inherent in the period we call Romanticism. At first glance, we might think that they had been written by William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge or Lord Byron, but they were in fact lines written by a quiet, soft-spoken woman of Hampstead. Bluestocking poet and dramatist, Joanna Baillie's works were lauded from 1798 to 1851 in England, Germany, Scotland, Sri Lanka, the United States and were translated into German and Sinhalese. She was hailed as ‘our great new poet’ by literary communities, was visited by aspiring writers on pilgrimage and was at the centre of a medical, social and literary so-called salon or conversazioni. In addition to her contributions in the field of drama, she sponsored new legislation on copyright laws; fought for anti-slavery legislation; supported new and deserving younger writers; sponsored the publication of England's first slave narrative, Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa; wrote lyrics which were put into songs and ballads by George Thomson; composed songs for which music was provided by Haydn, Kozeluch and Beethoven; produced The Beacon and The ... log in or subscribe to read full text