Learned Poets

Female poets faced challenges beyond those confronted by novelists. Unlike novels–which held a low position in the hierarchy of cultural production–poetry, with its classical origins and long male tradition, stood at the pinnacle of high culture. Attempting serious poetry could be risky for women.

For much of the nineteenth century, men and women alike commonly assumed that women were not capable of true creative genius or sustained intellectual inquiry. Hence, evidence of high literary ambition by a woman could prompt especially condescending critical commentary.

At the same time, poetry paid less than fiction, and the poet’s implied lack of financial need served some women well, permitting pursuit of a literary career with little of the social taint associated with work for pay.

• Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806-1861
• George Eliot, 1819-1880
• Christina Rossetti, 1830-1894
• Augusta Webster, 1837-1894
• Michael Field

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