Grief, Commemoration, and the Poetics of Disruption in the Works of Frances Norton

Abstract

Taking up the question of whether Frances Norton’s apparent religious orthodoxy is at odds with a feminist consciousness, this chapter argues that her literary works are parts of an ongoing project to memorialize her daughter, Grace Gethin, whose death interrupts participation in gendered spheres of marriage and motherhood. Norton’s commemorative project challenges conventional gender roles by generating an identity for Gethin as a woman of letters and spiritual authority, albeit through the tolerated feminine activities of needlework and devotional writing. Paying special attention to Norton’s published needlework poetry, this chapter argues that Norton foregrounds women’s grief and domestic labour.