ANN YEARSLEY, BIOGRAPHY AND THE a??POW'RS OF SENSIBILITY UNTAUGHT!a??

摘要

As Mary Waldron's important study Lactilla, Milkwoman of Clifton suggests, it is almost impossible to overlook the biographical when considering the poetry of labouring-class poet Ann Yearsley. Much has been made in recent criticism of the poet's very public falling-out with her one-time patron, Hannah More. The conflict between the middle-class values embodied in the figure of More and the middle-class aspirations of her labouring-class charge emphasizes the fact that eighteenth-century literary culture was still predominantly middle- and upper-class culture. Using this conflict as a starting point, this article considers some of the ways in which Yearsley deploys the discourse of sensibility in her attempt to rise, via her poetry, into the ranks of the middle classes. The author suggests that Yearsley's insistent linking of sensibility to her a??real-lifea?? suffering and to the powerful effects produced on her mind by the natural world signals the poet's engagement with a nascent Romantic poetics and her rejection of the highly mannered bourgeois culture with which her patron was identified.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true,"ui_click":true}; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09699080903533346