Women Writers in Early Modern England: Group #9

Source:
Greene, Richard.  Mary Leapor: A Study in Eighteenth Century
        Womens Poetry.  Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

Summary:

        Richard Greene's recounting of the life and times of English women writers in the eighteenth century is an unpleasant depiction of the way women's writings had gone unnoticed and unrecognized in that time.  Greene tells most of this history through Mary Leapor (1722-1746), a poet of the mid-century (vii). She was the daughter of a gardener and herself a domestic
servant.  Most of her life was spent in Brackley, Northamptonshire (vii).  Unfortunately, as was the case with many of the female writers of that time, her works were not published until after her death.  Once they were published, her works were well received and she became a popular poet (vii).
       Unlike most poets of that time, Leapor seldom addressed abstractions and wrote few odes.  Instead, she wrote about her experiences as a working woman in a society which discriminated deeply on the basis of gender (vii).  Since Leapor remained firmly outside the social elite of her time, she has very strong comparisons with some other female poets whose works are now
being accepted and revealed as eighteenth century English verse.  Many of these poets describe poverty or the injustices suffered by women of that time.  The exclusion from legitimate publication was one of these injustices.  These are the very things that shaped Mary Leapors own poetry (vii).  Her experiences as an outsider, a woman, gave way to many compelling poems.
        As Greene writes, it was very difficult for women of that time to become educated enough to be able to write artistically. Their education in all levels of society was inadequate and the universities completely excluded them from any educational involvement (45).  As a result, women writers were less burdened by long-established literary models and more readily developed their own forms and techniques of writing.  But still, this systematic exclusion of women from higher education could only have forced a great majority of capable women out of the intellectual mainstream (45).  In general, womens academics prepared the daughters of the wealthy to make their ways in society and served to enhance their prospects of marriage (45).  While young men were being taught the classics, young women were being taught painting, music, and dancing.  In fact, a learned woman would likely experience difficulty finding a husband (45).  Women writers of the period adamantly argued for better education in order to improve their situation, but not until much later were they granted such rights.
        In general, Greene states that the writing community of the eighteenth century was greatly underrepresented by women.  He argues that if such gender biases had not existed in that time, a far greater amount of women's literature would have been published.  Unfortunately, the majority of female works written in the eighteenth century were published posthumously. And the
writers were never able to experience the importance of their achievements.  Unequal representation and unfair exclusion of women writers from society led to the loss of many important and unretrievable works.

Analysis:

        The author makes many arguments and assumptions regarding the treatment of women writers in the eighteenth century by demonstrating the biases against them.  Richard Greene states that the main reasons behind the women's underrepresentation in literature of that time was due to the subordinate position assigned to them.  This argument is quite strong and very logically justified.  Since women were not allowed to influentially partake in eighteenth century society, they were seen as unimportant.  As a result, there was also a tendency for their achievements to be overlooked.  In this way, many of the works by women writers were never seen or appreciated.  Only recently has their been an influx of eighteenth century women's publications.  This is advantagous for our time, but for those women who contributed to our enlightenment, it is too late.  They were robbed of their chance by the unjust society in which they lived.
        It is apparent that Richard Greene wrote this book as a historical reference and also in an effort to tell the story to the masses who were not able to appreciate the works of these women.  He directs this book to both the well-informed and those who had never before read the works of an eighteenth century woman.  Using historical accounts as well as excerpts from other works, Greene persuasively defends his argument.  In fact, he hopes that his audience will continue to ascertain even more information regarding this topic by supplying a bibliography of the sources he himself used.  It is obvious that Greene is a very influential writer and is very skilled in establishing his point.  Through his text he clearly demonstrates the importance of eighteenth century women's literature and the lack of its appreciation.

Evaluation of Reliability:

        Richard Greene seems to be a very reliable source of the subject matter on which he writes.  The reason for this reliability is his use of various other sources (he provides an extended bibliography at the end of the book).  The sources he uses include historians as well as other writers.  Unfortunately, nothing is said of Richard Greene himself.  None of his other works or projects are ever mentioned in the book.  The only information given about him is the fact the he wrote this book.  But the majority of his information is cited from other sources and these sources are quite reliable.
        Since Greene was writing for a large and varied audience, he needed not be specific about the information he gave and the sources he used.  His intention was to simply demonstrate to modern audiences the importance of the women of that time.  As a result, his argument is very general and his points are very easy to appreciate.  A person need not have previous knowledge of any of the information that Greene talks about in order to understand his argument.  This is quite beneficial for Greene because it allows him to appeal to many different audiences.

Synthesis:

        The issues that Greene discusses tie in quite well with those discussed in class.  The most prominent is Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.  As we discussed in class, Mary Montagu overcame the boundaries established by eighteenth century society.  She was well educated (although she educated herself) and became quite a successful writer.  This was a great and nearly unheard-of achievement for a woman at that time.  Mary Montagu fully encompasses the issues discussed in Greene's text.  She was faced with the restrictions on her education and she overcame them.  She was faced with the restrictions of being a woman writer in that time and she again overcame them.  Mary Montagu is the clear definition of what Greene felt should have been the way for all women.  If that had been the case, then perhaps the world may have been able to share in the great works that eighteenth century women had to offer.