Byron's Heroines

This is the first feminist critique of Lord Byron's depiction of women. The heroines of his narrative and dramatic verse are considered in the light of the early 19th century debate on the role of woman in society and are compared with the heroines of Byron's contemporaries.

Summary

`Alas! the love of women! it is known/ To be a lovely and fearful thing!' Don Juan, II. 199

Traditionally seen as an archetypal masculine poet, better known for his relationships with women than for the sympathetic study of them, Lord Byron has not lent himself easily to a feminist critique hitherto. In this, the first such example, Caroline Franklin takes an original and polemical standpoint, reading Byron within the setting of the contemporary debate on the nature, role, and rights of women in society. The heroines of Byron's narrative and dramatic verse are considered, not from a biographical perspective, but by relating these representations to ideologies of sexual difference which obtained in the poet's day. Viewed in their literary-historical context, these Byronic heroines are compared with other female protagonists of the age, thereby revealing the poet to be unusually honest and bold in his portrayal of female sexuality and its relation to political issues.

Drawing upon original research materials, yron's Heroines presents the poet in a fresh and original context as well as making an important contribution to the debate regarding the representation of women in early nineteenth-century society.

Additional text

Byron's Heroines has combined an intellectual history of gender in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with a new look at Byron as a writer of considerable learning, imagination, and scope. ... Byronists and feminists will read this good book - yet its chief audience ought to be those who still question Byron's standing as a great writer and his contribution to that fallible composite that we call Western humanism.

Product details

• Authors: Caroline Franklin, Caroline (Senior Lecturer Franklin, Franklin Caroline
• Publisher: Oxford Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 03.09.1992
• EAN: 9780198112303
• ISBN: 978-0-19-811230-3
• Dimensions: 145 mm x 219 mm x 23 mm
• Weight: 476 g
• Illustrations: 2 halftones
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; England, English, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies, LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, REFERENCE / Dictionaries, POETRY / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 19th Century, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Abuse / Child Abuse, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Literary studies: poetry & poets, Feminism & feminist theory, Feminism and feminist theory, Literary studies: poetry and poets