Mary Robinson: Selected Poems

By Mary Robinson

Book Overview

Mary Robinson's work has begun again to assume a central place in discussions of Romanticism. A writer of the 1790's--a decade which saw the birth of Romanticism, revolution, and enormous popular engagement with political ideas--Robinson was acknowledged in her time as a leading poet. Her writing exhibits great variety: charm, theatricality, and emotional resonance are all characteristics Robinson displays. She was by turns a poet of sensibility, a poet of popular culture, a chronicler of the major events of the time, and a participant in some of its chief aesthetic innovations. This long-awaited collection is the first critical edition of her poems.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1551112019
• ISBN13: 9781551112015
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Broadview Press Inc
• Length: 444 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Mary Robinson: Selected Poems, edited by Judith Pascoe

At a time when Mary Robinson's work is being recovered with much enthusiasm, Judith Pascoe's long awaited volume of her poetry is useful both as an introduction to Robinson and as a tool for further advanced study. Pascoe's introduction to the volume combines biographical information, an overview of available criticism, keen critical insight, and suggestions for further research, making it a valuable starting point to the collection. Pascoe has included selections from all of Robinson's published volumes of poetry together with samples of Robinson's letters, reviews of her poetry, and a complete publication history for the poetry. She includes poems to Robinson by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, contextualizing Robinson and her poetry among her more well-known contemporaries. Interspersed amongst the poems are well-chosen illustrations which contribute to the cultural context that Pascoe evokes. As the cover suggests, Robinson was "a poet of sensibility, a poet of popular culture, a chronicler of the major events of the time, and a participant in some of its chief aesthetic innovations" and this is clearly highlighted by Pascoe's editorial choices. Pascoe's editorial comments and footnotes are insightful and useful; furthermore, they are non-intrusive, making this volume a must to anyone just beginning their study of women in the Romantic Period, to those doing further work on Robinson specifically, or to anyone simply interested in reading the work of an accomplished poet.