List of early-modern women poets (UK)
Encyclopedia
This is an alphabetical list of female
poets who were active in the United Kingdom
before approximately 1800. Nota bene
: Poetry is the focus of this list, though many of these writers worked in more than one genre.
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
poets who were active in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
before approximately 1800. Nota bene
Nota Bene
Nota bene is an Italian and Latin phrase meaning "note well". The phrase first appeared in writing circa 1721.Often abbreviated as "N. B.", nota bene comes from the Latin roots notāre and bene . It is in the singular imperative mood, instructing one individual to note well the matter at hand...
: Poetry is the focus of this list, though many of these writers worked in more than one genre.
A - C
- Eliza ActonEliza ActonElizabeth "Eliza" Acton was an English poet and cook who produced one of the country's first cookbooks aimed at the domestic reader rather than the professional cook or chef, Modern Cookery for Private Families. In this book she introduced the now-universal practice of listing the ingredients and...
(17991799 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* July 21 – At about this year, on the anniversary of the 1796 death of Scots poet Robert Burns, his friends started the tradition of the Burns supper, which has since spread so widely as to...
–18591859 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* William Barnes:** Hwomely Rhymes ** The Song of Solomon in the Dorset Dialect...
) - Jean AdamJean AdamJean Adam was a Scottish poet.-Early years:Born in Greenock into a maritime family, her most famous work is "There's Nae Luck Aboot The Hoose," a tale of a sailor's wife and the safe return of her husband from the sea...
s (17041704 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-- From William Shippen's, Faction Display'd, the work of a Tory poet on the powerful Whig publisher Jacob Tonson whose series of anthologies, known as Dryden's Miscellanies or Tonson's Miscellanies used the...
–17651765 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* Benjamin Church, "The Times", English, Colonial America* James Beattie:** The Judgment of Paris...
) - Lucy AikinLucy AikinLucy Aikin , born at Warrington, England into a distinguished literary family of prominent Unitarians, was a historical writer.-Family and education:...
(17811781 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:Image:JoshuaReynoldsParty.jpg|A literary party at Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted this year...
–18641864 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Works published:-Canada:* Charles Heavysege:** The Owl ** The Dark Huntsman -United Kingdom:...
) - Mary AlcockMary AlcockMary Alcock [née Cumberland] , was a poet, essayist, and philanthropist.Mary was the youngest child of Joanna Bentley and Bishop Denison Cumberland...
(c.17421742 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Jonathan Swift suffers what appears to have been a stroke, losing the ability to speak and realizing his worst fears of becoming mentally disabled...
–17981798 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* William Wordsworth begins writing the first version of The Prelude, finishing it in two parts in 1799. This version describes the growth of his understanding up to age 17, when he departed for...
) - Elizabeth AmherstElizabeth Frances Amherst (poet)Elizabeth Frances Amherst , poet and amateur naturalist, remained largely unpublished during her lifetime.She was born to Elizabeth Kerrill and Jeffrey Amherst of Kent, one of two girls and seven boys. She married the Revd John Thomas of Welford, Gloucestershire; the couple had no biological...
(c.17161716 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:*Voltaire is exiled to Tulle.*Poet John Byrom returns to England to teach his own system of shorthand....
–17791779 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* William Cowper and John Newton, Olney Hymns, 66 by Cowper , another 282 by Newton; the work was popular, with many editions published* Robert Fergusson, Poems on Various Subjects, Part 2 of...
) - Anne AskewAnne AskewAnne Askew was an English poet and Protestant who was condemned as a heretic...
(15211521 in poetry* Alexander Barclay, The Boke of Codrus and Mynalcas, the author's "Fourth Eclog" * Henry Bradshaw, The Life of St...
–15461546 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Works published:* Luigi Alamanni, La Coltivazione, didactic poem written in imitation of Virgil's Georgics, Italian writer published in Paris, France* Ludovico Ariosto, Le Rime de M...
) - Mary AstellMary AstellMary Astell was an English feminist writer and rhetorician. Her advocacy of equal educational opportunities for women has earned her the title "the first English feminist."-Life and career:...
(16661666 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* In Denmark, Anders Bording begins publishing Den Danske Meercurius , a monthly newspaper in rhyme, using alexandrine verse, single-handedly published by the author from this year to 1677-Works...
–17311731 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* The only complete manuscript of Beowulf and the original manuscript of The Battle of Maldon are damaged in a fire at the archives of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton.* The Gentleman's Magazine is started and...
) - Penelope AubinPenelope AubinPenelope Aubin was an English novelist and translator.-Works:* The Stuarts : A Pindarique Ode * The Extasy: A Pindarick Ode to Her Majesty The Queen...
(c.16581658 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Works published:* Nicholas Billingsley, Kosmobrephia; or, The Infancy of the World, mostly poetry...
–17311731 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* The only complete manuscript of Beowulf and the original manuscript of The Battle of Maldon are damaged in a fire at the archives of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton.* The Gentleman's Magazine is started and...
) - Katherine AustenKatherine AustenKatherine Austen was a British diarist and poet best known for Book M, her manuscript collection of meditations, journal entries, and verse.-Early life:...
(16291629 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Works published:* Sir John Beaumont, Bosworth-field: With a taste of the variety of other poems left by Sir John Beaumont, posthumously published by his son and namesake* George Chapman, translator, A...
–c.16831683 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Great Britain:* Philip Ayres, Emblems of Love, later reissued under the title Cupids Addresse to the Ladies...
) - Grizel BaillieGrizel BaillieLady Grisell Baillie was a Scottish songwriter.- Biography :The eldest daughter of Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, afterwards earl of Marchmont, Lady Grisell Baillie was born at Redbraes Castle, Berwickshire. When she was twelve years old, she carried letters from her father to Scottish patriot...
(1665–17461746 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Lucy Terry writes the first known poem by an African American, "Bars Fight, August 28, 1746", about an Indian massacre of two white families in Deerfield, Massachusetts; the ballad was related orally...
) - Joanna BaillieJoanna BaillieJoanna Baillie was a Scottish poet and dramatist. Baillie was very well known during her lifetime and, though a woman, intended her plays not for the closet but for the stage. Admired both for her literary powers and her sweetness of disposition, she hosted a brilliant literary society in her...
(17621762 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Colonial America:* Thomas Godfrey, "The Court of Fancy: A Poem", English, Colonial America* Francis Hopkinson, English, Colonial America:...
–18511851 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Works published in English:-United Kingdom:* Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Poems Posthumous and Collected...
) - Anne BannermanAnne BannermanAnne Bannerman was a Scottish poet.-Life:She was born in Edinburgh to Isobel and William Bannerman, a "running stationer" licensed to sell ballads in the streets...
(17651765 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* Benjamin Church, "The Times", English, Colonial America* James Beattie:** The Judgment of Paris...
– 18291829 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* The American Monthly Magazine is started in Boston by Nathaniel Parker Willis as a humorous and satirical magazine with essays, fiction, criticism, poetry and humor, largely written by the editor...
) - Anna Laetitia BarbauldAnna Laetitia BarbauldAnna Laetitia Barbauld was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and children's author.A "woman of letters" who published in multiple genres, Barbauld had a successful writing career at a time when female professional writers were rare...
(17431743 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* Robert Blair, The Grave a work representative of the Graveyard poets movement* Samuel Boyse, Albion's Triumph...
–18251825 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .- Events :* La bibliothèque canadienne, a French Canadian magazine edited by Michel Bibaud, begins publishing this year - United Kingdom :* Anna Laetitia Barbauld, The Works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, edited...
) - Mary BarberMary BarberMary Barber , poet, was a member of Swift's circle.- Life :Barber's parents are unknown; she married Rupert Barber , a Dublin woollen draper, and had nine children, four of whom survived to adulthood...
(c.1690–17571757 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* May 7 — Christopher Smart's asylum confinement begins in St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in London ; while confined at St Luke's, Smart wrote A Song to David, published in 1763, and Jubilate...
) - Jane BarkerJane BarkerJane Barker was an English poet and novelist of the early 18th century. The Amours of Bosvil and Galesia was considered her most successful work. A staunch Jacobite, she followed King James II of England into exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in France shortly after James’ defeat in the Glorious...
(1652–17321732 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Colonial America:* Ebenezer Cooke :...
) - Elizabeth BathElizabeth BathElizabeth Bath , daughter of Edward Paddy and Mary of Falmouth, Cornwall is the author of a collection of sixty-six poems published by subscription in 1806 in Bristol. She was a member of the Society of Friends; she was married to Henry Bath Elizabeth Bath (née Paddy), daughter of Edward Paddy...
(fl.FloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1806) - Henrietta BattierHenrietta BattierHenrietta Battier [née Fleming] was an Irish poet, satirist, and actress. She married the son of a Dublin banker and had at least four children...
(c.17511751 in poetry— Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard, published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:...
–18131813 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Robert Southey becomes Poet Laureate after Sir Walter Scott's refusal...
) - Aphra BehnAphra BehnAphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
(1640–1689) - Elizabeth BentleyElizabeth Bentley (writer)-Biography:She was born in Norwich to Elizabeth Lawrence and Daniel Bentley. The latter, a journeyman cordwainer who had himself received a good education, educated Elizabeth, his only child. The family faced financial difficulties after he had a stroke in 1777 and was unable to work at his usual...
(17671767 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* About this year, the Sturm und Drang movement began in German literature and music. It would last through the early 1780s...
–18391839 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* William Wordsworth granted an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree by Oxford University.-United Kingdom:...
) - Matilda Betham (17761776 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* March — Phillis Wheatley, appeared before General George Washington for her poetry...
–18521852 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems* Alfred Tennyson, Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington...
) - Susanna BlamireSusanna BlamireSusanna Blamire , poet, was of good Cumberland family, and received the sobriquet of The Muse of Cumberland. Her poems, which were not collected until 1842, depict Cumbrian life and manners with truth and vivacity...
(17471747 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Works published:* Sir William Blackstone, The Panthion, published anonymously, attribution uncertain* William Dunkin, Boeotia...
–17941794 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Robert Treat Paine founds the Federal Orrery, a semiweekly Federalist journal in Boston, Massachusetts...
) - Frances BoothbyFrances BoothbyFrances Boothby , playwright, was the first woman to have a play produced in London: her tragicomedy, Marcelia, or, The Treacherous Friend, was performed by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal in 1669 . The plot involves romantic difficulties and deceit. It is her only work extant, and little...
(fl. 1669–1670) - Anne BradstreetAnne BradstreetAnne Dudley Bradstreet was New England's first published poet. Her work met with a positive reception in both the Old World and the New World.-Biography:...
(c.1612–1672) - Barbarina BrandBarbarina BrandBrand , Barbarina, Lady Dacre was an English poet, playwright, and translator.Barbarina was the daughter of Admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle, 1st Baronet , and Hester . In 1789 she married Valentine Henry Wilmot, an officer in the guards, though they later separated. The couple had one daughter, Arabella...
(17671767 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* About this year, the Sturm und Drang movement began in German literature and music. It would last through the early 1780s...
–18541854 in poetry— From "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, first published this yearNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:...
) - Hannah BrandHannah BrandHannah Brand , actress and playwright, was born in Norwich where she ran a "young Ladies Boarding School, No. 18, St. Giles's Broad-street" with her sister, Mary, until she turned to the stage...
(17541754 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* Thomas Cooke, An Ode on Poetry, Painting, and Sculpture, published anonymously...
– 18211821 in poetry— words chiselled onto the tombstone of John Keats, at his requestNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* The Saturday Evening Post founded in Philadelphia...
) - Frances BrookeFrances BrookeFrances Moore Brooke was an English novelist, essayist, playwright and translator.-Biography:Brooke was born in, Claypole, Lincolnshire, the daughter of a clergyman. By the late 1740s, she had moved to London, where she embarked on her career as a poet and playwright...
(17241724 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Works published:* Matthew Concanen, editor, Miscellaneous Poems, Original and Translated...
–17891789 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Ireland:* Charlotte Brooke, Reliques of Irish Poetry, anthology published in the United Kingdom...
) - Frances Burney (17521752 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Christopher Smart wins the Seatonian Prize for the third time .-United Kingdom:* Moses Browne, The Works and Rest of the Creation* John Byrom, Enthusiasm: A poetical...
–18401840 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* Thomas Aird, Orthuriel, and Other Poems* Matthew Arnold, Alaric at Rome* Robert Browning, Sordello...
) - Mary CaryMary Carey, Lady CareyMary Carey, Lady Carey, . She was the author of poems and meditations.Mary Carey was the daughter of Sir John Jackson. She married Pelham Carey, son of Henry, 4th Lord Hunsdon, who was created Viscount Rochford by King James I on 6 July 1621. He was later created 1st Earl of Dover by King Charles I...
(fl. 1650) - Elizabeth CarterElizabeth CarterElizabeth Carter was an English poet, classicist, writer and translator, and a member of the Bluestocking Circle.-Biography:...
(1717–1806) - Elizabeth CaryElizabeth Tanfield CaryElizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland , née Tanfield, was an English poet, translator, and dramatist. Precocious and studious, she was known from a young age for her learning and knowledge of languages.-Life:...
(1585–1639) - Jane Cavendish (1620/21–1669)
- Margaret CavendishMargaret CavendishMargaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was an English aristocrat, a prolific writer, and a scientist. Born Margaret Lucas, she was the youngest sister of prominent royalists Sir John Lucas and Sir Charles Lucas...
(1623–1673) - Dorothea CelesiaDorothea CelesiaDorothea Celesia was a poet and playwright best known for Almida, her translation of Voltaire's Tancrède ....
(bap. 1738, d. 1790) - Susannah Centlivre (1667–1723)
- Hester ChaponeHester ChaponeHester Chapone , writer of conduct books for women, was born on 27 October 1727 at Twywell, Northamptonshire,The daughter of Thomas Mulso , a gentleman farmer, and his wife , a daughter of Colonel Thomas, Hester wrote a romance at the age of nine, 'The Loves of Amoret and Melissa', which earned...
(1727–1801) - Mary ChudleighLady Mary ChudleighMary Chudleigh was part of an intellectual circle that included Mary Astell, Elizabeth Thomas, Judith Drake, Elizabeth Elstob, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and John Norris...
(1656–1710) - Alison CockburnAlison CockburnAlison Cockburn also Alison Rutherford, or Alicia Cockburn was a Scottish poet, wit and socialite who collected a circle of eminent friends in 18th century enlightenment Edinburgh including Walter Scott, Robert Burns and David Hume.-Life:Born at Fairnilee House, in the Scottish Borders, between...
(1713–1794) - An CollinsAn CollinsAn Collins is an English poet, and the otherwise unknown author credited with the authorship of Divine Songs and Meditacions, a collection of poems and prose meditations published in 1653.-Background and Controversy:...
(fl. 1653) - Hannah CowleyHannah CowleyHannah Cowley was an English dramatist and poet. Although Cowley’s plays and poetry did not enjoy wide popularity after the nineteenth century, critic Melinda Finberg rates Cowley as “one of the foremost playwrights of the late eighteenth century” whose “skill in writing fluid, sparkling dialogue...
(1743–1809)
D - I
- Charlotte DacreCharlotte DacreCharlotte Dacre was an English author of Gothic novels.Most references to her today are under the name Charlotte Dacre, but she first wrote under the pseudonym Rosa Matilda, and later adopted a second pseudonym to tease and confuse her critics...
(1782–1841) - Alicia D'AnversAlicia D'AnversAlicia D'Anvers [née Clarke] was an English poet.- Biography :Born in Oxford, her father was superior beadle of civil law and first architypographus, or director of printing, for Oxford University...
(1667–1725) - Margaret DaviesMargaret DaviesMargaret Sidney Davies , was a Welsh art collector and patron of the arts. With her sister Gwendoline, she bequeathed a total of 260 works, particularly strong in Impressionist and 20th-century art, which formed the basis of the present-day National Museum Wales' international collection...
[Marged Dafydd] (c.1700–c.1785) - Mary DavysMary Davys-Life account:Born in Ireland, she married Peter Davys, master of the free school of St Patrick's, Dublin, and had two daughters both of whom seem to have died in infancy...
(1674–1732) - Eliza Day (fl. 1734–1814)
- Elizabeth EgertonElizabeth EgertonElizabeth Egerton , countess of Bridgewater , was an English writer. She was encouraged in her literary interests from a young age by her father, William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, himself an author and patron of the arts surrounded by a literary coterie which included Ben Jonson, Thomas...
(1626–1663) - Sarah Fyge EgertonSarah Fyge EgertonSarah Fyge Egerton was a female poet who wrote in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. She was one of six children born to Mary Beacham and Thomas Fyge...
(1670–1723) - Jean ElliotJean ElliotJean Elliot , also known as Jane Elliot, was a Scottish poet, and the third daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland....
(1727–1805) - Elizabeth ElstobElizabeth ElstobElizabeth Elstob , the 'Saxon Nymph,' was born and brought up in the Quayside area of Newcastle upon Tyne, and, like Mary Astell of Newcastle, is nowadays regarded as one of the first English feminists...
(1683–1756) - Catherine Maria FanshaweCatherine Maria FanshaweCatherine Maria Fanshawe was an English poet. The daughter of a Surrey squire, she wrote clever occasional verse. Her best-known production is the...
(1765–1834) - Anne Finch (1661–1720)
- Caroline FryCaroline FryCaroline Fry , a British Christian writer, later Mrs Caroline Wilson, was born and died at Tunbridge Wells in Kent. She was one of ten children born to John and Jane Fry. She married William Wilson at Desford, Leicestershire on 26 May 1831.-Life:Fry's family was affiliated with the "High Church"...
(1787–1846) - Frances GrevilleFrances GrevilleFrances Greville was an Irish poet and celebrity in Georgian England.She was born in Longford, Ireland in the mid-1720s; by the early 1740s, she was in London, accompanying Sarah Lennox, Duchess of Richmond...
(c.1727–1789) - Jane Grey (1537–1554)
- Constantia GriersonConstantia GriersonConstantia Grierson [née Crawley] , was an editor, poet, and classical scholar from County Kilkenny, Ireland.- Life :...
(c.1705–1732) - Anne HalkettAnne HalkettLady Anne Halkett was a religious writer and autobiographer.-Early life:Halkett's father Thomas Murray was tutor to King James I's children. He later became Provost of Eton College. Her mother was governess to the king's children. When Thomas Murray died, Halkett was educated by her mother...
(1623–1699) - Eliza HaywoodEliza HaywoodEliza Haywood , born Elizabeth Fowler, was an English writer, actress and publisher. Since the 1980s, Eliza Haywood’s literary works have been gaining in recognition and interest...
(1693–1756) - Felicia HemansFelicia Hemans-Ancestry:Felicia Heman's paternal grandfather was George Browne of Passage, co. Cork, Ireland; her maternal grandparents were Elizabeth Haydock Wagner of Lancashire and Benedict Paul Wagner , wine importer at 9 Wolstenholme Square, Liverpool. Family legend gave the Wagners a Venetian origin;...
(1793–1835) - Susanna HighmoreSusanna HighmoreSusanna Highmore was a British poet with a relatively small literary output. She was wife to Joseph Highmore, whom she married on 28 May 1716. Joseph Highmore was a portrait painter in high demand, and the couple lived in London and associated with Isaac Watts, William Duncombe, and Samuel...
(1689/90–1750) - Lucy HutchinsonLucy HutchinsonMrs. Lucy Hutchinson was an English biographer as well as the first translator into English of the complete text of Lucretius's De Rerum Natura during the years of the interregnum .-Biography:...
(1620–1681)
J - O
- Anna Brownell JamesonAnna Brownell JamesonAnna Brownell Jameson was a British writer.-Biography:Jameson was born in Dublin.Her father, Denis Brownell Murphy , was a miniature and enamel painter...
(1794–1860) - Isabella KellyIsabella KellyIsabella Kelly, née Fordyce, also Isabella Hedgeland was a British novelist and poet. She married Robert Hawke Kelly , a captain in the Royal Navy...
(c.1759–1857) - Anne KilligrewAnne KilligrewAnne Killigrew was an English poet. Born in London, Killigrew is perhaps best known as the subject of a famous elegy by the poet John Dryden entitled To The Pious Memory of the Accomplish'd Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew . She was however a skilful poet in her own right, and her Poems were...
(1660–1685) - Caroline LambLady Caroline LambThe Lady Caroline Lamb was a British aristocrat and novelist, best known for her affair with Lord Byron in 1812. Her husband was the 2nd Viscount Melbourne, the Prime Minister...
(1785–1828) - Mary LambMary LambMary Ann Lamb , was an English writer, the sister and collaborator of Charles Lamb.-Biography:She was born on 3 December 1764. In 1796, Mary, who had suffered a breakdown from the strain of caring for her family, killed her mother with a kitchen knife, and from then on had to be kept under constant...
(1764–1847) - Laetitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838)
- Aemilia LanierEmilia LanierEmilia Lanier, also spelled Lanyer, was the first Englishwoman to assert herself as a professional poet through her single volume of poems, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum...
(1569–1645) - Mary LeaporMary LeaporMary Leapor was an English poet, born in Marston St. Lawrence, Northamptonshire, the only child of Anne Sharman and Philip Leapor , a gardener...
(1722–1746) - Charlotte LennoxCharlotte LennoxCharlotte Lennox was an English author and poet. She is most famous now as the author of The Female Quixote and for her association with Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds, and Samuel Richardson, but she had a long career and wrote poetry, prose, and drama.-Life:Charlotte Lennox was born in Gibraltar...
(1720–1804) - Anne Lindsay (1750–1825)
- Judith MadanJudith MadanJudith Madan was an English poet. She was the grand daughter of Lady Sarah Cowper , the diarist....
(1702–1781) - Bathsua MakinBathsua MakinBathsua Reginald Makin was a proto-feminist, middle-class Englishwoman who contributed to the emerging criticism of woman’s position in domestic and public spheres in 17th-century England. Herself a highly educated woman, Makin was referred to as “England’s most learned lady,” skilled in Greek,...
(1600–c.1675) - Delarivier ManleyDelarivier ManleyDelarivier Manley was an English novelist of amatory fiction, playwright, and political pamphleteer...
(1663 or ca. 1670–1724) - Elizabeth MelvilleElizabeth MelvilleElizabeth Melville , is the earliest known Scottish woman writer to have her work appear in print and is most famous for writing the Ane Godlie Dreame, a Calvinist dream-vision poem....
, Lady Culross (fl. 1598–1631) - Mary Russell MitfordMary Russell MitfordMary Russell Mitford , was an English author and dramatist. She was born at Alresford, Hampshire. Her place in English literature is as the author of Our Village...
(1787–1855) - Mary MollineuxMary MollineuxMary Mollineux , probably the daughter of Catholic parents who converted to Quakerism, differed from many of her Quaker contemporaries because of an early education in Latin, Greek, science, and arithmetic...
(c.1651–1696) - Mary Wortley MontaguLady Mary Wortley MontaguThe Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat and writer. Montagu is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her letters from Turkey, as wife to the British ambassador, which have been described by Billie Melman as “the very first example of a secular work by a woman about...
(c.1689–1762) - Hannah MoreHannah MoreHannah More was an English religious writer, and philanthropist. She can be said to have made three reputations in the course of her long life: as a poet and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick, as a writer on moral and religious subjects, and as a practical...
(1745–1833) - Sydney Owenson MorganLady MorganSydney, Lady Morgan , was an Irish novelist, best known as the author of The Wild Irish Girl.-Early life:...
(1783–1859) - Amelia OpieAmelia OpieAmelia Opie, née Alderson , was an English author who published numerous novels in the Romantic Period of the early 19th century, through 1828.-Life and work:...
(1769–1853) - Mary OxlieMary OxlieMary Oxlie would seem to have been an early 17th century Scottish or Northumbrian coterie poet, though extremely little is known of her beyond one attribution....
(fl. 1616)
P – S
- Catherine ParrCatherine ParrCatherine Parr ; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen consort of England and Ireland and the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543. She was the fourth commoner Henry had taken as his consort, and outlived him...
(c.1512–1548) - Katherine PhilipsKatherine PhilipsKatherine Philips was an Anglo-Welsh poet.-Biography:Katherine Philips was the first Englishwoman to enjoy widespread public acclaim as a poet during her lifetime. Born in London, she was daughter of John Fowler, a Presbyterian, and a merchant of Bucklersbury, London. Philips is said to have read...
(1631–1664) - Sarah PiersSarah PiersSarah, Lady Piers was a literary patron, political commentator, and a poet.Her father was originally of Roydon in Yorkshire. She was the daughter of Matthew Roydon and wife of Sir George Piers , a Kentish army captain and Clerk of the Privy Seal. She had two sons, one of whom died in childhood...
(1697–1714) - Laetitia PilkingtonLaetitia PilkingtonLaetitia Pilkington was a celebrated Anglo-Irish poet and important source of information on the early 18th century. Her Memoirs are the source of much of what is known of the personalities and habits of Jonathan Swift and others.Laetitia was born of two distinguished families...
(c.1708–1750) - Hester Lynch Piozzi (1740–1821)
- Mary PixMary PixMary Pix was an English novelist and playwright. Church records indicate that she lived in London, marrying George Pix, a merchant tailor from Hawkhurst, Kent in 1684. Baptismal records reveal that she had two sons, George and William...
(1666–1709) - Anne PlumptreAnne PlumptreAnne Plumptre was an English writer and translator.She was born in Norwich. She and her sister, Annabella [Bell] Plumptre , daughters of Robert Plumptre, became active in the Enfield circle, a local group of literati. Later she became involved in politics during the period of the French Revolution...
(1760–1818) - Anna Maria PorterAnna Maria PorterAnna Maria Porter , poet, novelist and sister of Jane Porter, was born in the Bailey in Durham, the posthumous child of William Porter , who had served as an army surgeon for 23 years. He is buried in St Oswald's church, Durham....
(1780–1832) - Diana PrimroseDiana PrimroseDiana Primrose author of the eulogy to the deceased Queen Elizabeth published A Chaine of Pearle, Or a Memoriall of the peerles Graces, and Heroick Vertues of Queene Elizabeth of Glorious Memory. Composed by the Noble Lady, Diana Primrose...
(fl. 1630) - Ann RadcliffeAnn RadcliffeAnne Radcliffe was an English author, and considered the pioneer of the gothic novel . Her style is romantic in its vivid descriptions of landscapes, and long travel scenes, yet the Gothic element is obvious through her use of the supernatural...
(1764–1823) - Clara ReeveClara ReeveClara Reeve was an English novelist, best known for her Gothic fiction work The Old English Baron .Reeve was born in Ipswich, England, one of the eight children of Reverend Willian Reeve, M.A., Rector of Freston and of Kreson in Suffolk, and perpetual curate of St Nicholas...
(1729–1807) - Mary RobinsonMary Robinson (poet)Mary Robinson was an English poet and novelist. During her lifetime she is known as 'the English Sappho'...
(1757–1800) - Elizabeth RoweElizabeth Rowe-Life:She was the eldest daughter of Elizabeth Portnell and Walter Singer, a dissenting minister. Born in Ilchester, Somerset, England, she began writing at the age of twelve and when she was nineteen, began a correspondence with John Dunton, bookseller and founder of the Athenian Society.Between...
(née Singer) (1674–1737) - Mary ScottMary Scott (poet)Mary Scott , poet, was born in Somerset, England.Scott's father was a linen draper. Not much else is known about her life before the publication of The Female Advocate, dedicated to her friend Anne Steele, in 1774...
(1752–1793) - Anna SewardAnna SewardAnna Seward was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield.-Life:Seward was the elder daughter of Thomas Seward , prebendary of Lichfield and Salisbury, and author...
(1742–1809) - Elizabeth Sheridan (1754–1792)
- Mary Sidney HerbertMary SidneyMary Herbert , Countess of Pembroke , was one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her literary works, poetry, poetic translations and literary patronage.-Family:...
(1561–1621) - Charlotte Turner SmithCharlotte Turner SmithCharlotte Turner Smith was an English Romantic poet and novelist. She initiated a revival of the English sonnet, helped establish the conventions of Gothic fiction, and wrote political novels of sensibility....
(1749–1806) - Elizabeth SmithElizabeth SmithElizabeth Smith may refer to:* Elizabeth Ann Whitney , early Latter Day Saint leader, born Elizabeth Ann Smith* Elizabeth Davis , wife of Joseph Smith Jr....
(1776–1806) - Joanna SouthcottJoanna SouthcottJoanna Southcott , was a self-described religious prophetess. She was born at Gittisham in Devon, England.-Self-revelation:...
(1750–1814) - Rachel SpeghtRachel SpeghtRachel Speght was a poet and polemicist. She was the first Englishwoman to identify herself, by name, as a polemicist and critic of gender ideology. Speght, a feminist and a Calvinist, is perhaps best known for her tract A Mouzell for Melastomus...
(b. c.1597) - Mariana StarkeMariana StarkeMariana Starke was an English author. She is best known for her ground-breaking travel guide of France and Italy which served as an essential companion for British travellers to the Continent in the early nineteenth century. She also wrote plays and poetry early in her career but was discouraged...
(c.1762–1838) - Anne SteeleAnne SteeleAnne Steele , English hymn writer, was born at Broughton, Hampshire.The drowning of her betrothed, a Mr. Elscourt, a few hours before the time fixed for her marriage deeply affected an otherwise quiet life, and her hymns rather emphasize the less optimistic phases of Christian experience...
(1717–1778) - Agnes StricklandAgnes StricklandAgnes Strickland was an English historical writer and poet.-Biography:The daughter of Thomas Strickland of Reydon Hall, Suffolk, Agnes was educated by her father, and began her literary career with a poem, Worcester Field, followed by The Seven Ages of Woman and Demetrius...
(1796–1874) - Elizabeth StuartElizabeth of BohemiaElizabeth of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of King James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, Ireland, and Anne of Denmark. As the wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, she was Electress Palatine and briefly Queen of Bohemia...
, Queen of Bohemia (1596–1660)
T – Z
- Ann TaylorAnn Taylor (poet)Ann Taylor was an English poet and literary critic. In her youth she was a writer of verse for children, for which she achieved long-lasting popularity. In the years immediately preceding her marriage, she became an astringent literary critic of growing reputation...
(1782–1866) - Elizabeth TaylorElizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
(fl. 1685–1720) - Jane TaylorJane Taylor (poet)Jane Taylor , was an English poet and novelist. She wrote the words for the song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in 1806 at age 23, while living in Shilling Street, Lavenham, Suffolk....
(1783–1824) - Elizabeth ThomasElizabeth Thomas (poet)Elizabeth Thomas , poet, was born in London, the only child of Elizabeth Osborne , aged 16, and lawyer Emmanuel Thomas , aged 60. Her father died when she was an infant and she and her mother faced financial hardship. She was educated at home, was well read, and learnt some French and Latin...
(1675–1731) - Elizabeth ThomasElizabeth Thomas (Poet/novelist)Elizabeth Thomas [née Wolferstan] , novelist and poet, is an ambiguous figure. Details of her early life are missing, and her authorship of some works attributed to her is contested....
(1770/71–1855) - Mary TigheMary TigheMary Tighe , was an Anglo-Irish poet.She was born in Dublin to Theodosia Tighe, a Methodist leader, and William Blachford , a Church of Ireland clergyman and librarian...
(1772–1810) - Anna Trapnel (fl. 1654–1660)
- Catherine TrotterCatherine Trotter CockburnCatharine Trotter Cockburn was a novelist, dramatist, and philosopher.-Life:Born to Scottish parents living in London,Trotter was raised Protestant but converted to Roman Catholicism at an early age...
(1679–1749) - Elizabeth TudorElizabeth I of EnglandElizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
(1533–1603) - Elizabeth WardlawElizabeth WardlawElizabeth, Lady Wardlaw , reputed author of Hardyknute, second daughter of Sir Charles Halket, was born in April 1677. She married in 1696 Sir Henry Wardlaw, 4th Baronet, of Pitreavie...
(1677–1727) - Anna WeamysAnna WeamysAnna Weamys, sometimes referred to as Anne Weamys was an English author. Little is known of her life, but Weamys has been identified as the author of A Continuation of Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia , which appeared under the name 'Mrs A...
(fl. 1651) - Jane WestJane WestJane West [née Iliffe] , who published as "Prudentia Homespun" and "Mrs. West," was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and writer of conduct literature and educational tracts.- Life :...
(1758–1852) - Anne WhartonAnne WhartonAnne Wharton, née Lee was an English poet and verse dramatist.-Life:...
(1659–1685) - Isabella WhitneyIsabella WhitneyIsabella Whitney is the earliest identified woman to have published secular poetry in the English language. She has been called "the first professional woman poet in England."-Biography:...
(b. c.1540, fl. 1566–1573) - Anna WilliamsAnna Williams (poet)Anna Williams was a poet and companion of Samuel Johnson.-Early life:She was born at Rosemarket, Pembrokeshire to Zachariah Williams and his wife, Martha. Her father provided her with a wide artistic and scientific education, including Italian and French...
(1706–1783) - Helen Maria WilliamsHelen Maria WilliamsHelen Maria Williams was a British novelist, poet, and translator of French-language works. A religious dissenter, she was a supporter of abolitionism and of the ideals of the French Revolution; she was imprisoned in Paris during the Reign of Terror, but nonetheless spent much of the rest of her...
(c.1761–1827) - Jane WisemanJane WisemanJane Holt [née Wiseman] was an actress, poet, and playwright. She seems to have been from a modest labouring-class background and self-taught, but very little is known about her. Her one known play, Antiochus the Great, or, The Fatal Relapse, was successfully produced at the New Theatre, Lincoln's...
(c.1682–1717) - Dorothy WordsworthDorothy WordsworthDorothy Mae Ann Wordsworth was an English author, poet and diarist. She was the sister of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and the two were close for all of their lives...
(1771–1855) - Frances WrightFrances WrightFrances Wright also widely known as Fanny Wright, was a Scottish-born lecturer, writer, freethinker, feminist, abolitionist, and social reformer, who became a U. S. citizen in 1825...
(1795–1852) - Mary WrothLady Mary WrothLady Mary Wroth was an English poet of the Renaissance. A member of a distinguished literary English family, Wroth was among the first female British writers to have achieved an enduring reputation...
(1587–1652) - Ann YearsleyAnn YearsleyAnn Yearsley née Cromartie was an English poet and writer.Born in Bristol to John and Anne Cromartie , Ann married John Yearsley, a yeoman, in 1774. A decade later the family were rescued from destitution by the charity of Hannah More and others. More organized subscriptions for Yearsley to...
(c.1753–1806)
See also
- List of early-modern women playwrights (UK)
- List of female poets
- List of feminist poets
- List of poets
- List of women rhetoricians
- List of women writers
- Lists of writers
- Oxford period poetry anthologiesOxford period poetry anthologiesThese are Oxford poetry anthologies of English poetry, which select from a given period. See also The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse.-New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse :Edited by Alastair Fowler...
- Women Writers ProjectWomen Writers ProjectThe Women Writers Project is an initiative based at Brown University, with the aim of making texts by pre-Victorian women writers more accessible. The eventual goal of the project is to make available all English language works written or co-authored by women up to 1850...
- Women's writing in EnglishWomen's writing in EnglishWomen's writing as a discrete area of literary studies is based on the notion that the experience of women, historically, has been shaped by their gender, and so women writers by definition are a group worthy of separate study...
External links
- 17th Century Women Poets Biographical and bibliographical information on selected poets
- British Women Romantic Poets An electronic collection of texts for the period (1789–1832).
- The Brown University Women Writers Project Emphasis is on pre-Victorian women writers.
- A Celebration of Women Writers A major focus of this site is the development of on-line editions of older, often rare, out-of-copyright works.
- Early Modern Women Database The Database is no longer being updated as of May 15, 2011, but still accessible as of August 2011.
- Emory Women Writers Resource Project A collection of texts by women writing from the seventeenth century through the early twentieth century.
- List of biographical dictionaries Collectively, the resources at this site provide information about any 17th century British women writer one could imagine.
- Luminarium An online Anthology of English Literature
- A Time-Line of English Poetry from Old English to Post Modern
- Representative Poetry Online Includes an index of 4,079 English poems by 618 poets, with bibliographies and literary criticism.
- Romantic Circles, a refereed scholarly website devoted to the study of Romantic-period literature and culture.