Annotated Bibliography, Eng 232 SJSU

Annotated Bibliography

Compiled for Romantic Genders (Eng 232)
Spring 2006, SJSU

An annotated bibliography includes all of the citation information for a relevant text (book or article) as well as a one-paragraph summary of that text. Sometimes included is the relevance and quality of the text to the topic. For hints on creating annotated bibliographic entries, see here.

Ford, Susan Allen. "�A name more dear�: Daughters, Fathers and Desire in A Simple Story, the False Friend and Mathilda. Re-Visioning Romanticism. Eds. Carol Shiner Wilson and Joel Haefner. Philadelphia: U Penn P, 1994. 51-71.

In this article, Ford employs three novels, A Simple Story, The False Friend, and Mathilda, to discuss the effects of father-daughter incest upon the domestic sphere. She looks particularly at the forbidden desire, a definition and redefinition of both the characters of the daughter and father, the suppression of speech, and a significantly absent mother. In looking at these topics, Ford points out the power that many of the characters of these novels finds through various modes of speech and even silence in these father-daughter incest relationships. She concludes that the ideal family of the Romantic Period is revealed as dangerous because of the great emphasis placed on love and obedience to the patriarch. (Written by Lisa Kim)

Goslee, Nancy Moore. "Slavery and Sexual Character: Questioning the Master Trope in Blake's Visions of the Daughters of Albion." ELH 57:1 (Spring 1990). 101-128.

In this article, Goslee dissects the arguments of several critical responses to Blake's Visions of the Daughters of Albion, and discusses the relative success or failure of these critics to provide readings that synthesize the pervasive issues of race, gender, and class. She describes the need to understand the interdependent relationships between these issues, and delineates the critical inconsistencies that arise when approaching the text with only one of these issues in mind. While providing the sociopolitical context of Blake's work along with a discussion of subsequent critical responses, Goslee raises more questions than she answers. However, she ultimately achieves her goal of deconstructing both Oothoon and the master trope of slavery; in doing so she provides the sort of synthesized response that was missing from the work of other critics. (Written by Julie Meloni)

Mellor, Anne. "Exhausting the Beautiful." Romanticism and Gender. NY: Routledge, 1993. 107-143.

"Exhausting the Beautiful" makes the argument that while some female writers like Wollstonecraft were challenging the dominant conception of the ideal woman, others like Letitia Landon and Felicia Hemens were actually contributing to the hegemony by writing verse in support of the male constructions of the feminine ideal that was included in the literary annuals. The article begins by discussing Burke�s definition of beauty and then describes the way the Landon and Hemans crafted themselves and their poetry to fit this definition. The secondary argument that Mellor makes is that through their poetry, Landon and Hemens actually ended up undermining the very ideology that they were trying to uphold. However, this argument is made in absolutes and is therefore less easy to wholeheartedly agree with. Although the article is sometimes repetitive in its main points, those points nonetheless are made in a clear, straightforward manner which sheds some light on the insidious nature of the literary annual, or as Mellor refers to it: "ideological propaganda." (Written by Dawn Nelson)

Mellor, Anne K. "Were Women Writers �Romantics�?" Modern Language Quarterly 62:4 (Dec 2001). 393-405.

In this article, Mellor examines the history of British women�s writing and questions whether or not the literary periodization of "Romantic" is valid for it. Beginning with the female religious preachers and publishers, she notes that during this period, female writers established female authority in the public arena, brought about a social shift by inaugurating Victorianism, and initiated modernity by embracing racial and cultural differences. Furthermore, she asserts that women writers drew from the tradition of their female predecessors rather than setting themselves in opposition to it and concludes by arguing that there was no sharp change in women�s writing before, after or between 1789 and 1832 to demarcate a "Romantic period" and therefore, it does not exist. (Written by Jennifer Cairns)

Mellor, Anne and John Bender. "Liberating the Sister Arts: The Revolution of Blake�s �Infant Sorrow.�" ELH 50:2 (Summer 1983). 297-319.

John Bender and Anne Mellor�s article, "Liberating the Sister Arts: The Revolution of Blake�s �Infant Sorrow,�" examines the competing language and picture codes within "Infant Sorrow." They argue that the text and the engraving are contradictory, independent, and equally valid, making "Infant Sorrow" a rejection of the Sister Arts Tradition. Furthermore, Blake�s divergent text and illustration destabilize the authority of language and endorse multiple, non-hierarchical, irreconcilable meanings. For Bender and Mellor, "Infant Sorrow" poses a challenge to authority in general and argues that freedom exists beyond institutional systems. (Written by Meghan Kirkpatrick)

Neighbors, Beth Ann. "The Frustrated Landscapes of Charlotte Smith & William Wordsworth." Prometheus Unplugged?

In �The Frustrated Landscapes of Charlotte Smith and William Wordsworth,� Beth Neighbors looks at how the French Revolution was the impetus for poetry and prose from writers of the eighteenth century. Her examination of Smith�s The Emigrants, and Wordsworth�s Descriptive Sketches is twofold, first she undertakes a project explicating the background that led to the production of the poems, and second, she examines, in some detail, specific passages in the poem and their relationship to the poem�s author. Among the many fascinating facts and details revealed in the essay, are the revelations that Wordsworth appeared to be preoccupied with the idea that �political liberation mirrors the metaphoric liberation of the imagination,� and Smith�s empathy with the suffering of the oppressed�lays bare her intimate connection with the ��migr�s desire for rest from tumultuous living.� Overall, a highly fascinating article, that any reader of Smith�s and Wordsworth�s poetry would be well-served to read. (Written by Christopher Hillen)

Ross, Marlon B. "Romantic Quest and Conquest: Troping Masculine Power in the Crisis of Poetic Identity." Romanticism and Feminism. Ed. Anne Mellor. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1988. 26-51.

In this article, Ross examines the ways in which poets of the Romantic era are driven to self-possession as the motivating force for poetic expression. He describes this internal self-questing of the Romantic poet as an attempt to reestablish a relation with the external world and to reestablish masculinity. Byron and Wordsworth act as examples of Romantic poets who share this quest for self-possession yet who approach their destination through different modes. (Written by Katie Isaacs)

Sha, Richard C. "'Keeping Them Out of Harm's Way': Sketching, Female Accomplishments, and the Shaping of Gender in Britain." The Visual and Verbal Sketch in British Romanticism. Philadelphia: U Penn P, 1998. 73-104.

In chapter 2, "Keeping Them Out of Harm's Way": Sketching, Female Accomplishments, and the Shaping of Gender in Britain," Sha aruges that the increase in leisure time for women created the fear that they would suddenly abandon their domestic duties to become professionals. Sha traces the evolution of sketching and its contribution to the shaping of gender and femininity in 18th century Britain. Distinctions are made between female "sketching" and men "drawing" and the social implications of both activities, as well as the social, religious and economic limitations that women endured. Sha also touches on the general population's reception of female artists in the late 18th century. References to literary works, instruction manuals and women's sketches are made to support Sha's argument. (Written by Jane Kim)

Sonmez, M. J-M. "Archaisms in �The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Cardiff Corvey 9 (Dec 2002).

In "Archaisms in �The Rime of the Ancient Mariner�, "Margaret Sonmez traces Coleridge�s deliberate use of various stylistic devices to evoke the past. She outlines all of these techniques (collectively called archaisms), which include: the use of "old fashioned vocabulary" or outdated verb endings; historical references; the genre an author or poet writes in; as well as "surrounding paraphernalia," most notably Coleridge�s addition of a gloss in the 1817 version. Sonmez carefully traces and analyzes Coleridge�s use all of these techniques as they evolve over the first five printed versions of the poem. Responding to initial criticism of the poem, she argues, Coleridge revised the work to eliminate some of the more awkward archaisms, but in the process, he added additional sources of archaism and made them even more evocative of a distant, mythical past. This effective use of archaism, she further asserts, has a number of additional effects, including its ability to obscure the author�s role in its creation, which lends the written poem an air of authority normally connected with received legends arising from an oral tradition. (Written by Paul Burnett)

Tucker, Herbert F. "House Arrest: the Domestication of English Poetry in the 1820s." New Literary History 25:3 (Summer 1994). 521-548.

The 1820�s represent a decade of literary indecisiveness, as scholars feel the time period to be too late to be called �Romanticism� and too early to be called �Victorian.� In this article, Tucker suggest that the poetry in this time period catered to the parlor-game, hearth-loving tastes of the people. Themes of domestic appeal run rampant in gift albums and holiday annuals, an �innovation of format.� With particular focus on Felicia Hemans, as well as Wordsworth and concluding with Tennyson, Tucker points out the move from exotic, high-soaring Romantic sentiments to a reigned in, homely taste that, while occasionally ambiguous, nonetheless brings emotion and nostalgia into the safe confines of home. (Written by Jordan Klebig)

Woof, Pamela. "Dorothy Wordsworth: Story-teller." The Wordsworth Circle 34:2 (Spring 2003). 103-110.

In this article Pamela Woof evaluates the narrative properties of Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journals. She feels the the record of the poverty stricken villagers that Dorothy gives us enable us to see the people simply as the were. Dorothy frequently records her recollections without comment. She gives us a stark look at the people without her brother, William Wordsworth's glorification and myth-making. (Written by Tara Moore)