Tag: poetry

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Guardian View on Dorothy Wordsworth (2021)

“The Guardian View on Dorothy Wordsworth: A Rare Achievement.” Guardian, 19 December 2021.

“She has been described as ‘probably the most remarkable and the most distinguished of English prose writers who never wrote a line for the general public’; many have also argued that she directly influenced the course of English poetry.”

Text available on Web.

For letters in response to the article, see Guardian, 23 December 2021 [Web].

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Carr — Feather and Bone (2018)

Carr, Ruth. Feather and Bone: Poems in Response to Dorothy Wordsworth (1771–1855), Mary Ann McCracken (1770–1866). Dublin: Arlen House, 2018.

Abstract: “Carr’s poems explore the lives of two women who lived contemporaneously but never met—Dorothy Wordsworth and Mary Ann McCracken. The poems reflect how they lived their lives alongside their more famous brothers, with Mary Ann’s political strength carrying her through tragedy and Dorothy’s calmer ‘foxglove feeling’ for life.”

For an interview with Carr about her book, see The Honest Ulsterman, September 2024.

Copy: Library of Congress.

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Kappes — Fashioning a Voice of Her Own (2009)

Kappes, Gabrielle A. F. “Fashioning a Voice of Her Own: The Poetics of Place in Dorothy Wordsworth’s Poetry, Narratives, and Travel Writing.” Honors thesis, Wheaton College, 6 May 2009.

Contents: Introduction — Chapter 1. Rooting Poetic Voice in Landscape: Dorothy Wordsworth’s Poetry — Chapter 2. The “Inner Histories” of Grasmere: Community as Archive in Dorothy Wordsworth’s Narrative of George and Sarah Green — Chapter 3. Mapping Foreign Lands: Dorothy Wordsworth’s Travel Writing as the Creative Process — Coda.

Copy: Web.

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Fletcher — Wordsworth in Context (1992)

Fletcher, Pauline, and John Murphy, eds. Wordsworth in Context. Lewisburg, Penn.: Bucknell University Press, 1992.

See Pamela Woof, “Dorothy Wordsworth’s Journals and the Engendering of Poetry,” pp. 122–55; Jared Curtis, “‘Poem Hid in a Tin Box’: Dorothy Wordsworth and the Inscription for a seat by the pathway side ascending Windy Brow,” pp. 156–72.
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Elzey — Differences (2002)

Elzey, Susan Dean. “The Differences between Dorothy Wordsworth’s Journals and William Wordsworth’s Poetry: Applying the Principles of ‘Preface.’” M.A. thesis, Longwood College, May 2002.

Abstract: “The difference between the accounts of Dorothy Wordsworth and William Wordsworth of the events they experience together is studied. At times it almost seems like William contradicts himself in his dictums. However, that assumption is not the case. He takes from Dorothy’s journals a memory, an idea, a description and uses it as the foundation of deeper and more personal poetic revelations than Dorothy ever did. Together, through their writings, the brother and sister illustrate the basic definition of what it is to be a poet. Dorothy was not a poet, William was.”

Contents: Introduction — Chap. 1, “A Departure from ‘Poetic Diction’” — Chap. 2, “Emotions Recollected in Tranquility” — Chap. 3, “Colouring of the Imagination” — Chap. 4, “Spontaneous Overflow of Feelings” — Conclusion — Works Cited.

Available on the Web.
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Crisafulli — Romantic Women Poets (2007)

Crisafulli, Lilla Maria, and Cecelia Pietropoli, eds. Romantic Women Poets: Genre and Gender. New York: Rodop, 2007.

See Crisafulli, “Within or Without? Problems of Perspective in Charlotte Smith, Anna Laetitia Barbauld and Dorothy Wordsworth,” pp. 35–62.