The Bluestocking Legacy in the Romantic Era

Abstract

In 1790 the American writer Mercy Otis Warren published Poems Dramatic and Miscellaneous in Boston. This was the first of her literary works to bear her name. Warren, a radical intellectual and anti-federalist supporter of the American Revolution, had already published republican plays and political pamphlets anonymously. She was an important correspondent and adviser to some of the chief architects of the revolution, including Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, to whom her volume of poems was dedicated.1 The first two poems in the book were long, neoclassical verse tragedies, ‘The Sack of Rome’ and ‘The Ladies of Castile’. While set in Italy and Spain, the plays clearly addressed American political concerns and featured strong, virtuous and patriotic female characters. The first of the ‘Miscellaneous Poems’ was entitled‘To Mrs. MONTAGUE, Author of “OBSERVATIONS on the GENIUS and WRITINGS of SHAKESPEARE.” ’ This striking fanfare to Montagu’s intellectual force and influence celebrated her patriotic role as Shakespeare’s defender but also asked her to extend her field of vision and look towards America: WILL Montague, whose critic pen adds praise, Ev’n to a Shakespeare’s bold exalted lays; Who points the faults in sweet Corneille’s page, Sees all the errors of the Gallic stage — Corrects Voltaire with a superior hand, Or traces genius in each distant land? Will she across the Atlantic stretch her eye, Look o’er the main, and view the western sky; And there Columbia’s infant drama see — Reflect that Britain taught us to be free; Survey with candour what she can’t approve; Let local fondness yield to gen’rous love; And, if fair truth forbids her to commend, Then let the critic soften to the friend.2 KeywordsRomantic PeriodWoman WriterFemale WriterFemale AdvocatePoetic VoiceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.