Poetry and the feminine from Behn to Cowper
By: Jennifer Keith.
Publisher: University of Delaware Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Newark
Language: eng
Number of pages: 227
Subjects: English poetry -- 18th century -- History and criticism.; English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism.; English poetry -- Women authors -- History and criticism.; Women -- Great Britain -- Intellectual life.; Women and literature -- Great Britain.; Authorship -- Sex differences.; Femininity in literature.; Sex role in literature.
Description: "Poetry and the Feminine revisits the foundations of poetic representation and value for women and men poets of the Restoration and eighteenth century, including Aphra Behn, John Dryden, Anne Killigrew, Anne Finch, Alexander Pope, James Thomson, Thomas Gray, Ann Yearsley, and Anna Seward. Keith argues that fundamental to poetic innovation in this era are poets' revisions of "feminine" figures such as the muse and Nature. Feminine Nature serves these poets as an infinitely expandable category of form that allows them to redefine poetry and poetic subjectivity. These poetic innovations include exploring the very grounds of mimesis, dismantling the hierarchy of poetic kinds, and using sensibility to yoke aesthetic and ethical values. In an inclusive framework, Keith presents a history of poetic change through women's and men's complex dialogues with poetic contexts and conventions."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Dryden, Pope, and the transformation of the muse; title: Speaking objects : women poets and the muse; title: Gender and order in the prospect; title: The voice of nature and the poet's labor; title: The nightingale's breast against the thorn : sensibility and the sublime.