Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The sheer volume of poetry published by women increased dramatically during the eighteenth century: two collections of verse by women appeared in the first decade, whereas thirty were published in the final decade (Lonsdale 1989: xxi). Women writers made their mark across many literary genres. In Britain by the 1790s there were more female than male novelists, the theater was dominated by women, and in poetry women were “at least for a time, predominant” (Curran 1988: 186–7). Contemporaries commented on the phenomenon in different ways. Vicesimus Knox includes a satirical portrait of a young female poet, “Lesbia,” in his essay “On Affectation of Female Learning.” His caricature suggests the ubiquity of the image of the poetess by the late 1770s, but his trivializing account of the poetic genres she practices gives only a hint of the scope of women's poetic output in the preceding eighty years.Lesbia, when very young, wrote a few rhymes, which, as her age was considered, were much applauded by her friends. Flushed with praise, she considered herself as a second Sappho, and has ever since been devoted to the muse. Her reading was chiefly confined to the poet's corner in news-papers, and her productions have rivalled her models. She composes ænigmas, acrostics, rebusses, and songs, for those little red pocket-books which are annually published for the ladies, and she has had the honour ... log in or subscribe to read full text