Records of Woman

by Hemans, Felicia

• ISBN13: 9780813109640
• ISBN10: 0813109647
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky

Summary

" Felicia Hemans (1793-1835), one of the most influential and widely-read poets of the nineteenth century, wrote Records of Woman in 1828 at the height of her long career. In the series, which includes nineteen poems about exemplary lives, Hemans explores what it means to be a woman, challenging traditional beliefs while at the same time reinforcing persistent stereotypes. Her work celebrates the lives, events, and imagined thoughts of unremembered women from different cultures and time periods whose deeds show nobility of spirit and inner strength. In her introduction, Paula Feldman examines how Hemans's poetry shaped and was shaped by nineteenth-century literary tastes, and she reconsiders the aesthetic value of Hemans's work and the current understanding of the nature of Romanticism.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	viii
Acknowledments	ix
Introduction	xi
Further Reading	xxx
Note on the Text	xxxii
Records of Woman
Arabella Stuart	7	(10)
The Bride of the Greek Isle	17	(8)
The Switzer's Wife	25	(4)
Properzia Rossi	29	(4)
Gertrude, or Fidelity till Death	33	(2)
Imelda	35	(4)
Edith, a Tale of the Woods	39	(8)
The Indian City	47	(7)
The Peasant Girl of the Rhone	54	(3)
Indian Woman's Death Song	57	(2)
Joan of Arc, in Rheims	59	(4)
Pauline	63	(4)
Juana	67	(2)
The American Forest Girl	69	(3)
Costanza	72	(3)
Madeline, a Domestic Tale	75	(5)
The Queen of Prussia's Tomb	80	(2)
The Memorial Pillar	82	(2)
The Grave of a Poetess	84	(5)
Miscellaneous Pieces
The Homes of England	89	(1)
The Sicilian Captive	90	(4)
Ivan the Czar	94	(3)
Carolan's Prophecy	97	(3)
The Lady of the Castle	100	(3)
The Mourner for the Barmecides	103	(3)
The Spanish Chapel	106	(3)
The Captive Knight	109	(1)
The Kaiser's Feast	110	(2)
Tasso and his Sister	112	(3)
Ulla, or the Adjuration	115	(2)
To Wordsworth	117	(1)
A Monarch's Death-Bed	118	(2)
To the Memory of Heber	120	(1)
The Adopted Child	121	(1)
Invocation	122	(2)
Korner and his Sister	124	(3)
An Hour of Romance	127	(1)
A Voyager's Dream of Land	128	(3)
The Effigies	131	(2)
The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England	133	(2)
The Spirit's Mysteries	135	(2)
The Departed	137	(2)
The Palm-Tree	139	(2)
The Child's Last Sleep	141	(1)
The Sunbeam	142	(1)
Breathings of Spring	143	(2)
The Illuminated City	145	(1)
The Spells of Home	146	(2)
Roman Girl's Song	148	(1)
The Distant Ship	149	(1)
The Birds of Passage	150	(3)
The Graves of a Household	153	(1)
Mozart's Requiem	154	(2)
The Image in Lava	156	(2)
The Last Wish	158	(2)
Fairy Favours	160	(2)
A Parting Song	162	(1)
Notes to the Poems	163	(50)
Index of First Lines	213