An Alternate Poetics: Working-Class Women Poets and a "People's Tradition"

Mancunian region factory poets Marie and Fanny Forrester, informed by a more sophisticated Chartist tradition of labour poetry as exemplified in the Northern Star, Ben Brierley's Journal, and the Leicester Mercury, carve out an honoured role for the "lowly bard." Marie's twin the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Victorian review 2022-09, Vol.48 (2), p.162-166
Main Author:	Boos, Florence
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Alcoholism Ballads British & Irish literature Browning, Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861) Daughters English literature Factories Middle class Poetics Poetry Poets Reading Scottish literature Traditions Women Working class Writers
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Mancunian region factory poets Marie and Fanny Forrester, informed by a more sophisticated Chartist tradition of labour poetry as exemplified in the Northern Star, Ben Brierley's Journal, and the Leicester Mercury, carve out an honoured role for the "lowly bard." Marie's twin themes are the moral power of labour and the special grace of poetic vision, as she experiences it.4 More concretely, Fanny Forrester celebrates the unique ability of the working-class poet to witness the heroisms of those (in Mary Smith's words) "forgot e'en by tradition's garrulous tongue" (72). Since she or he alone (the gender here is not significant) "tunes his lyre within the garret lonely," her mission is to memorialize the courage and sorrows of the marginalized underclass.5 And at the upper end of the social scale is Eliza Cook, whose verses engage the works of mainstream writers. [...]working-class women poets negotiated many barriers—of gender and class, occupational insecurity, and in some cases, extreme poverty, regional marginality, and lack of access to formal training and approved poetic models. More extensive memories are found in the writings of Coatbridge-region poet Janet Hamilton, who fondly recalled her girlhood preference for an "aul' worl' balat" over other treats, her excitement at age eight at reading Milton's verses and those of Scottish poet Allan Ramsay, and her delight in Shakespeare (17).
ISSN:	1923-3280 0848-1512 1923-3280