‘Women's voices speak for them-selves‘: gender, subversion and the women's voices anthology of 1887

Abstract

Abstract This article aims to contextualisewomen's Voices, a little-known anthology of the 1880s, edited by Mrs William (Elizabeth) Sharp. In so doing, it provides biographical information on Mrs Sharp, analyses the construction of the anthology, and suggests a theoretical framework by which to read it. Using techniques suggested by critical works such as those by Angela Leighton, Maggie Humm, and Judith Rowbotham, Mrs Sharp's text can be read as a subversive work, speaking to a recognisable ‘community’ of women readers. In context, both Sharp's text and her life can be regarded as radical. The cross-section of texts chosen by her likewise reflects the diversity of nineteenth-century poetry by women, suggesting questions concerning both class and nationality.