Early Influences
Women who nurtured literary ambitions in the early nineteenth
century lacked female mentors and models, and took their inspiration from
the culture at large.
The immense fame and glamour of Lord Byron (1788-1824), whose poetry represented defiance and freedom, fed the daydreams of a generation of aspiring young writers–men and women alike.
Walter Scott (1771-1832) was one of the most read and celebrated authors of the early nineteenth century. His poems and novels played a role in the developing imaginations of the young Brontës, and he was George Eliot’s favorite novelist. Scott’s great popular success as a novelist provided an example of a successful writing career in a literary genre accessible to women.
[top] George Gordon Byron. Farewell
to England … London: J. Johnston, 1816. [bottom] Sir Walter Scott.
Waverley: or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since… Edinburgh: Printed by
J. Ballantyne for A. Constable, 1814.
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Copyright
© 2002 Division of Rare & Manuscript
Collections
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