18th-century British Women Poets’ Patriotic Voices

Abstract

Right from the beginning to the end of the 18th-century, a large number of British women poets stepped out as outright and eloquent patriots. Through celebration, persuasion, and protest with their poems, 18th-century British women poets voiced out their patriotism, especially in their promotion of the British national identity by building up national confidence, constructing national ideals, and bringing the national ideals closer together with the actual practices during national crises in the War of American Independence, anti-slavery activism, and the French Revolution. The majority of their patriotic poems got published in the 18th-century. Their patriotic voices, especially those of their vigorous construction of the British national identity, have been largely neglected and therefore should be fully acknowledged since that identity they helped to promote remains a key issue for the British even today.Keywords: 18th-century, British women poets, patriotic voices, British national identity  Literature ReviewAcademic interest in 18th-century British women poetry has been enlivened in recent years. First of all, various anthologies of 18th-century British women poetry have appeared, such as those edited by Roger Lonsdale (1989), Joyce Fullard (1990), and Paula R. Backscheider and Catherine E. Ingrassia (2009). Poetry collections of particular 18th-century women poets are also available. Numerous articles focusing on topics relevant to 18th-century British women poetry can be found in databases like MLA International Bibliography. Besides these, monographs focusing on 18th-century British women poetry have kept emerging, including those by Moira Ferguson (1995), Paula R. Backscheider (2005), and Deborah Kennedy (2013). Echoing Margaret Anne Doody's appeal in 2000, "The study of women's poetry has yet to be fully integrated with the study of our poetry in general" (Doody, 2000, p. 218), Suvir Kaul's Poems of Nation, Anthems of Empire (2000) and Dustin Griffin's Patriotism and Poetry in Eighteenth-Century Britain (2002) include the study of 18th-century British women poetry in their study of 18th-century British poetry in general on two inter-related public topics: nation and patriotism. Valuable efforts as they are, both books only include a very small number of women poets in their discussion. In Kaul's book, he reads some anti-slavery poems by four or so 18th-century British women poets as the "national sentimentality" (Kaul, 2000, p. 252) of the "national chorus" (p. 32). The "national chorus" seems to be composed overwhelmingly by the numerous 18th-century men poets he reads in the book. In Griffin's book, he mentions numerous 18th-century British men poets as patriots and CHEN Jin-jin, Master of English Language and Literature, Lecturer, D 18TH-CENTURY BRITISH WOMEN POETS' PATRIOTIC VOICES 1620focuses seven of the ten chapters (excluding the "Introduction" and "Conclusion") on particular men poets. Only one chapter of his book focuses on six or so women poets' involvement in the 18th-century British discou...