Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Elizabeth Singer Rowe
-
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.
Its full title is An English-Saxon Homily on the Birthday of St. Gregory
, Anciently used in the English-Saxon Church. Giving an Account of the Conversion of the English from Paganism to Christianity. It...
Finch gave a copy of her pindaric Upon the Hurricane to Elizabeth Singer
, who responded warmly.
Kennedy, Deborah. Poetic Sisters. Early Eighteenth-Century Women Poets. Bucknell University Press.
68
Reception
Elizabeth Bury
Among EB
's early readers was a Welshwoman of the next generation who in her turn became posthumously known as a diarist: Sarah Savage
, 1664-1752, sister of that Matthew Henry
whom both EB
and...
Reception
Maria De Fleury
The later edition was noticed in the Analytical Review, probably by Wollstonecraft
, as using tame and prosaic language, a faint imitation of Elizabeth Singer Rowe
.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. The Works of Mary Wollstonecraft. Editors Todd, Janet and Marilyn Butler, Pickering.
81-2
Residence
Mary Scott
In 1788, after her marriage, MS
and her husband moved to Ilminster in Somerset, where they lived in the house formerly occupied by the poet and (in Anna Seward's words) dear fascinating enthusiastic saint...
Textual Features
Mary Barber
To a Lady, who commanded me to send her an Account in Verse, how I succeeded in my Subscription anticipates Elizabeth Hands
in satirical sketches of potential readers who scorn her efforts because of their...
Textual Features
Elizabeth Smith
Smith's preface, which discusses theology and Klopstock's admiration for Elizabeth Singer Rowe
, clearly indicates a hope of publishing. The body of the book consists chiefly the Klopstock letters, including those addressed by him to...
Textual Features
Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger
EOB
writes in terms of a women's tradition: for instance, she praises Barbauld
for praising Elizabeth Rowe
. She makes confident judgements and attributions (she is sure that Lady Pakington
is the real author of...
Textual Features
Alethea Lewis
AL
dedicated this work to Lady B., possibly the mother of the addressee. Her preface To the Gentlemen Reviewers of British Literature goes over the reception of The Microcosm, and mentions her Vicissitudes...
Textual Features
Janet Little
She consistently takes a challenging stance in face of authority. Ironically (in view of Johnson's championing of women writers and Burns's snobbish attitude about herself) she uses Samuel Johnson
as a symbol of the tyrant-critic...
Textual Features
Susanna Watts
Ephemera of all kinds have been bound in: family anecdotes, a letter of William Cowper
of 1788, a Hindu Primer (or alphabet), a railway ticket of 1839, women's parliamentary petitions against slavery of 1833 (one...
Textual Features
Sarah, Lady Pennington
She advises about relations with servants, about prompt payment of bills, and other aspects of running a complicated household. She says there will always be vacant Hours to fill up with reading,
Sarah, Lady Pennington,. An Unfortunate Mother’s Advice to her Absent Daughters. W. Bristow and C. Ethrington.
38
and offers...
Textual Features
Susanna Haswell Rowson
The heroine, Meriel Howard (educated in a French convent, aged sixteen at the outset, correspondent of her school-friend Celia Shelburne) is not wholly free from error, yet provides a good model for a daughter, wife...
Textual Features
Sarah, Lady Pennington
Yet another thread relates an inset story, The Adventures of Alphonso, after the destruction of Lisbon, related by himself, in a letter to his Brother, 1756; this fiction purports to be the first-fruits of...