Working-Class Women Poets in Victorian Britain: An Anthology

365 Pages·2008·54.83 MB·English

by  Florence S. Boos

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working-class learnedinterpretivestudyinonevolume.Boosispassionate os w o r k i n g - c l a s s
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presentationofindividualityofeachofthesewritingwomen.
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in victorian
selectionsofprosethatoftengiveinsightsintowhatpoetic
vocationmeanttoworkingwomen.Boosprovidesexcellent v i c t o r i a n b r i t a i n
britain
introductionstoeachpoet.Thisisabeautifullaboroflove,
andwilldelightscholars,generalreaders,andpoets.” v
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anthology withwomen’swriting.Theworkoftheseindomitablewomen rk
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DorothyMcMillan,UniversityofGlasgow as for review purposes only.
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broadview press
www.broadviewpress.com
edited by florence s. boos
broadview press
www.broadviewpress.com broadview
a-front.qxd 15/05/2008 10:59 AM Page 1
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WORKING-CLASS WOMEN POETS
IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN
A First Modern English Edition of
Les Évangiles des Quenouilles
WORKING-CLASSWOMENPOETS 1
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Skye 2,6
(cid:127)
(cid:127) Inverness 6
1Janet Hamilton
Scotland 2Isabella Chisholm
3Elizabeth Duncan Campbell
(cid:127)
Arbroath 3 4Jane Stevenson
3,8 Dundee • 5Elizabeth Horne Smith
6Mary MacDonald MacPherson
15 Springburn
7“Marie”
8Ellen Johnston
(cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) Coatbridge 1 9Ruth Wills
Glasgow 8,14,15,16
(cid:127)
Kilmarnock 4
5 Paisley
(cid:127) Carlisle 13
10Fanny Forrester 8 Chorley
11Ethel Carnie
12Eliza Cook
13Mary Smith Great Harwood 11
(cid:127)
14Jessie Russell (cid:127)
(cid:127)
15Jeannie Graham Manchester 10
Paterson
16Marion Bernstein
England
(cid:127) Leicester 9
Wales
(cid:127) Cropredy 13
12 London(cid:127)
2 INTRODUCTION
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WORKING-CLASS WOMEN POETS
IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN
An Anthology
A First Modern English Edition of
Les Évangiles des Quenouilles
translated by Thomas K.Abbott
edited by Florence S.Boos
broadview press
WORKING-CLASSWOMENPOETS 3
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©2008 Florence Boos
All rights reserved.The use of any part of this publication reproduced,transmitted in any form
or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,or stored in a
retrieval system,without prior written consent of the publisher—or in the case of photocopy-
ing,a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency),One Yonge
Street,Suite 1900,Toronto,Ontario M5E 1E5—is an infringement of the copyright law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Working-class women poets in Victorian Britain :an anthology / edited by Florence Boos.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-55111-596-2
1. English poetry—Women authors. 2. English poetry—19th century. 3. Working
class writings,English. 4. Working class women—Great Britain—Literary collections.
I.Boos,Florence Saunders,1943-
PR595.W67 2008 821′.80809287 C2007-907489-8
Advisory editor for this volume:Leonard Conolly
Broadview Press is an independent,international publishing house,incorporated in 1985.
Broadview believes in shared ownership,both with its employees and with the general
public;since the year 2000 Broadview shares have traded publicly on the Toronto Venture
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4 INTRODUCTION
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To Linda and Bill,
“the fellowship of kindred minds”
WORKING-CLASSWOMENPOETS 5
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6 INTRODUCTION
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Contents
Acknowledgements (cid:127) 11
Introduction (cid:127) 13
Janet Hamilton
Introduction (cid:127) 47
A Plea for the Doric (cid:127) 62
A Wheen Aul’Memories (cid:127) 63
The Feast of the “Mutches” (cid:127) 69
Oor Location (cid:127) 70
Rhymes for the Times II (cid:127) 72
Rhymes for the Times IV (cid:127) 75
Rhymes for the Times V (cid:127) 75
Grannie Visited at Blackhill,Shotts,July,1805 (cid:127) 77
Auld Mither Scotland (cid:127) 79
Grannie’s Crack About the Famine in Auld Scotlan’,1739-40 (cid:127) 81
Grannie’s Dream—A True Incident (cid:127) 84
Effie—A Ballad (cid:127) 87
Preface to Poems,Essays and Sketches (cid:127) 89
Preface to Memorial Edition,James Hamilton (cid:127) 92
Janet Hamilton at her “Ain Fireside,”Alexander Wallace (cid:127) 93
Janet Hamilton on the Education of Women (cid:127) 101
Scottish Peasant Life and Character in Days of Auld Langsyne (cid:127) 103
Sketch of a Scottish Out-door Communion Sabbath in Times
Gone By (cid:127) 105
Local Changes (cid:127) 106
Sketch of a Scottish Village (cid:127) 109
From The Mental and Moral Dignity of Woman,by the Rev.Benjamin
Parsons (cid:127) 110
The Rural Poets
Anonymous Celtic Songs Collected by Alexander Carmichael
Introduction (cid:127) 111
Peace (cid:127) 113
The Apple Tree (cid:127) 113
New Moon (cid:127) 115
My Father and Mother Will Kill Me (cid:127) 115
Isabella Chisholm
Introduction (cid:127) 116
The Wicked Who Would Do Me Harm (cid:127) 117
Exorcism of the Eye (cid:127) 118
Counteracting the Evil Eye (cid:127) 119
Elizabeth Duncan Campbell
Introduction (cid:127) 120
WORKING-CLASSWOMENPOETS 7
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The Death of Willie,My Second Son (cid:127) 126
A Prison Cell (cid:127) 127
The Crimean War (cid:127) 128
The Summer Night (cid:127) 131
The Mother’s Lament (cid:127) 133
The Life of My Childhood (cid:127) 135
Mrs.Campbell:A Criticism,by George Gilfillan (cid:127) 141
Jane Stevenson
Introduction (cid:127) 146
Home (cid:127) 148
The Wandering Dog (cid:127) 150
The Fairy Dale (cid:127) 151
The Prophetess,Or Seer of Visions (cid:127) 151
Preface from Homely Musings (cid:127) 156
Elizabeth Horne Smith
Introduction (cid:127) 157
The Armenian Atrocities (cid:127) 159
A Midnight Meeting with the Ghost of Burns,July,1896 (cid:127) 161
My Friend (cid:127) 164
Lines to J—— B——,Dunfermline (cid:127) 165
“In the Foremost Files.Elizabeth Horne Smith,Farmworker and
Poetess.,”by the Rev.P[aul] Anton (cid:127) 166
Mary MacDonald MacPherson
Introduction (cid:127) 171
Incitement of the Gaels (cid:127) 178
Farewell to the New Christmas (cid:127) 181
A Prose Translation:“Ivory and the Crofters,”Donald Meek (cid:127) 184
The Factory Poets
“Marie”
Introduction (cid:127) 185
The Indomitable Will (cid:127) 188
Posted Books (cid:127) 189
Sibyl,the Far-Seer (cid:127) 190
An Autumn Evening,People’s and Howitt’s Journal,1849 (cid:127) 192
Ellen Johnston
Introduction (cid:127) 195
Lines to Isabel from the Factory Girl (cid:127) 204
The Factory Girl’s Reply to Edith (cid:127) 206
The Last Sark (cid:127) 208
The Maid of Dundee to Her Slumbering Muse (cid:127) 209
The Last Lay of “The Factory Girl” (cid:127) 211
Edith,from Preface to Second Edition,Autobiography,Poems and Songs (cid:127) 213
Selections from the “Autobiography of Ellen Johnston” (cid:127) 213
8 CONTENTS
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Ruth Wills
Introduction (cid:127) 219
A Lament (cid:127) 224
The Seen and the Unseen (cid:127) 227
Koziell (cid:127) 228
Zenobia (cid:127) 230
“The Factory Poetess,”from The Working Man (cid:127) 231
Application to the Royal Literary Fund,1863 (cid:127) 234
Last Will and Testament of Ruth Wills (cid:127) 236
Fanny Forrester
Introduction (cid:127) 237
Dying in the City (cid:127) 243
The Lowly Bard (cid:127) 245
The Bitter Task (cid:127) 247
To “Sabina” (cid:127) 249
Application to the Royal Literary Fund from Mrs.Ellen Forrester (cid:127) 251
“Fanny Forrester,”Ben Brierley’s Journal,1875 (cid:127) 252
Ethel Carnie
Introduction (cid:127) 252
A Marching Tune (cid:127) 259
Faith (cid:127) 260
An Old Woman’s Hands (cid:127) 260
A Washerwoman (cid:127) 261
Shame (cid:127) 262
A Lament (cid:127) 262
A Riding Song (cid:127) 263
“A Lancashire Fairy.An Interview with Miss Ethel Carnie” (cid:127) 264
“Paddling your Own Canoe,”Miss Nobody (cid:127) 267
“Modern Womanhood,”The Woman Worker,1909 (cid:127) 274
Letter from Ethel Carnie to Graham Wallas (cid:127) 277
Lyricists and Feminists
Eliza Cook
Introduction (cid:127) 279
Song of the City Artisan (cid:127) 283
The Streets (cid:127) 284
A Song:To “The People”of England (cid:127) 286
They All Belong to Me (cid:127) 288
Song of the Red Man (cid:127) 290
Lines Suggested by the Song of a Nightingale (cid:127) 292
To the Late William Jerdan (cid:127) 293
“Advice to the Ladies,”from Eliza Cook’s Journal,1850 (cid:127) 294
Letter from Eliza Cook,1838 (cid:127) 296
Letter from Eliza Cook,1864 (cid:127) 297
WORKING-CLASSWOMENPOETS 9