| This is a study of Poems by Eminent Ladies, the first anthology devoted exclusively to English poetry by women, edited by George Colman and Bonnell Thornton, and published by Richard Baldwin in 1755. The eighteen poets in this collection range socially and chronologically from Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1624?–1674) to Mary Leapor, kitchen maid (1722–46). The intersection between bibliography, biography, and versification which occurs in all poetic anthologies is in this case complicated by a project that seeks to package female poets (some well known, others obscure) for the reading public.; Chapter One gives an overview of the literary environment that shaped the anthology. Here, I discuss the influences behind this collection. I also explore changing tastes and the marketplace at mid-century, as well as the ways in which women writers fit into the evolving milieu. Chapter Two discusses the background of the two editors, as well as the history of printed verse anthologies. I also address issues of publication that impact on the collection in this chapter, in particular the innovative use of alphabetical order in a verse anthology that seems to participate in an encyclopedic movement at mid-century. Chapter Three provides the reader with a table of the contents of the anthology together with basic information such as the dates of the poets, and the sources of the poems.; Chapters Four through Seven deal with the authors, arranged roughly chronologically in groups of four or more poets. In each of these chapters I address broader issues relating to that group. Whereas essential biographical and bibliographical facts about each poet are noted, the focus is a discussion of the poems that appear in PEL, and the impact of each woman's appearance in the anthology.; Chapter Four deals with seventeenth-century writers in the collection, as essential models of female writing within the tradition that Colman and Thornton map out: Cavendish, Philips, Behn, Killigrew, and Chudleigh. Chapter Five speaks to writers at the turn of the century, and ways in which they dealt with appearing in print: Finch, Monck, Cockburn, Rowe. Chapter Six discusses the change in social status among female poets in the 1730s and 40s. In Chapter Seven, I explore the verses of poets who were still living at mid-century, when PEL appeared: Montagu, Masters, Jones, Cowper (Madan), and Carter.; In Chapter Eight I consider later editions of the collection, and some of the memoirs and anthologies that followed PEL which testify to its influence. In my conclusion I address poetic resonance within PEL itself. Whether or not the editors intended it, themes such as love, marriage, writing, illness and death appear in various guises throughout the anthology. Here a variety of voices echo and dispute one another, and participate in a specific literary moment at mid-century. |
