Customer Reviews

British Women Poets and the Romantic Writing Community

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This book was written because there have been many new discoveries that have emerged and thus call for a rethinking of poetry of the British Romanticism Era "that was for nearly two centuries stereotyped in terms of a small group of male poets" (2). This book reveals the dozens of female poets who not only published their poetry, but also were able to make a living with the literature they published. Behrendt highlights the adversity that female writers faced in society and their ability to overcome this adversity by bringing a fresh perspective to the highly explored topics of male writers.

The introduction discusses recent developments, such as William Stafford's study of British women writers of the 1790's. This study examined the female writing of the period, which indicated that women "were fully attuned to the actual, practical realities involved in public behavior" and that they understood "the limits and as well as the opportunities involved in making their thoughts and words public" (3). Additionally, Behrendt challenges the dominant and accepted information about British women writers in the Romantic Era.

Behrendt provides thorough background information so that a reader with little knowledge of the era can follow along and understand the history that greatly impacted the kind of poetry that was published. Moreover, once the historical context is provided, he closely examines the success of dozens of female writers and discusses why they were so successful: "[Helen Maria Williams] presented the strongly feminist argument that slavery's greatest evil lay in its inevitable violation of `the domestic affections' " (155). This is one of many examples that women were playing a larger role in the Romantic Era than countless scholars have recognized.

Another aspect of the book that makes it a great read is how it is organized. There are six chapters: Women Writers, Radical Rhetoric, And The Public, Women Poets during the War Years, Women and the Sonnet, Experimenting with Genre, Scottish Women Poets, and Irish Women Poets. Chronologically ordered, each chapter examines the impact of contemporary society. Additionally he goes one step further and discusses how women used poetry to speak out and examine the hardships and/or problems of their society. Also, every chapter is filled with many female authors and lines of the poetry they published. I enjoyed this aspect in particular because Behrendt does more than just present evidence; he analyzes the poetry and explains the deeper meaning and impact this poetry had on its audience.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in women writers of the Romantic Era or anyone interested in this era in general. The book was a quick read and I was engaged throughout. Behrendt has done a wonderful job uncovering new information and presenting it in a clear, concise manner.

My British Romantic Literature class existed over thirty years ago, so I have been eager to update my exposure to this period. I've been delighted with BRITISH WOMEN because it is a thorough, pleasant way to see what graduate students should be studying now. It includes several names and analyses of these women's poetry. I have especially enjoyed the chapter on women's war poetry. Why wasn't I suspicious when I was only taught about six British males? How did susposedly scholarly professors justify the omission of some fine women's poetry? This book is satisfying as its examination becomes gender specific. In addition, the last two chapters are on poetry by women from Scotland and Ireland. My earlier exposure to Scotish poetry was a condescending one-day examination of Robert Burns.