18th Century Women’s Poetry

Changes in social and economic arrangements (from the court to the city, from the aristocracy to the middle class), especially developments in the publishing industry, in education, in attitudes toward publication, brought about new opportunities for women writers over the course of the “long eighteenth century” (roughly 1660-1800). This course offers an introduction to the principles of 18th-century poetry by way of questions of gender. The first half looks at famous debates about gender and authorship between male and female authors. The second half will be student-directed, looking to thematic concerns in women’s poetry specifically.

Our textbook will be primarily Backscheider & Ingrassia, British Women Poets of the Long Eighteenth Century (Johns Hopkins, 2009), with supplements.