Elizabeth Singer Rowe

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Standard Name: Rowe, Elizabeth Singer
Birth Name: Elizabeth Singer
Married Name: Elizabeth Rowe
Pseudonym: Philomela
Pseudonym: The Pindarick Lady
Pseudonym: The Pindarical Lady
Pseudonym: The Author of Friendship in Death
ESR wrote witty, topical, satirical poetry during the 1690s, followed later in life by letters, essays, fiction (often epistolary), and a wide range of poetic modes, often though not invariably with a moral or religious emphasis. Her reputation as a moral and devotional writer during her lifetime and for some time afterwards stood extremely high. Current critical debate is establishing the element of proto-feminist or amatory fiction (what Paula Backscheider calls experimental, subversive, and transgressive) in her prose against the didactic-devotional element.
Backscheider, Paula R. Elizabeth Singer Rowe and the Development of the English Novel. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Photograph of a line engraving of Elizabeth Singer Rowe by George Vertue, 1725, shown from the waist up, wearing a simple dark dress with a low scooped neckline. Her hair is tied back with a lock appearing over one shoulder. The oval frame (contained within a rectangle) bears her name, "Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe", and is topped with emblems including a sprig of laurel and a crown; a further swag of emblematic objects below includes flowers, sheets of inscribed paper, and the trumpet of Fame.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Family and Intimate relationships Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson
Her mother, born Ann Diggs, was stepdaughter of the first colonial governor of Pennsylvania. Ann died in 1765, and like Elizabeth Singer Rowe (and Richardson 's Clarissa) she left posthumous letters for delivery after her death.
Garraty, John A., and Mark C. Carnes, editors. American National Biography. Oxford University Press.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford.
Education Eliza Fletcher
Grandmother Brudend and a paternal aunt educated Eliza with poetry and stories. The letters of Elizabeth Singer Rowe were important in her reading. It was said, however, that her grandmother over-encouraged her in precocious display...
Education Frances Seymour, Countess of Hertford
Frances became well versed in most kinds of books, as well as good at dancing.
Hughes, Helen Sard. The Gentle Hertford, Her Life and Letters. Macmillan.
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Her books included history, theology, and romances—almost every subject except philosophy. Her father had taught Italian to the poet...
Anthologization Sarah, Lady Pennington
An Unfortunate Mother's Advice to her Absent Daughters quickly became a staple of composite volumes directed toward young women's conduct. At Edinburgh a volume of this kind, Instructions for a Young Lady, in every sphere...

Timeline

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Texts

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