ABSTRACT
First published in 1998, this volume combines a bio-critical account of Caroline Bowles Southey’s career with a general selection of her works, both poetry and prose, with the latter drawing attention on her remarkable talent as a letter writer. It will appeal to scholars of Romanticism and the Victorian person as well as women’s studies specialists and historians of autobiography.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |1 pages
Introduction
In the churchyard of St Thomas’s Parish Church at Lymington, Hamp shire, stands a small group of stone monuments that appear to be doing their best to burst through the thongs of ivy which enlace them; or perhaps it is the ivy which is preventing their final collapse. They mark the graves of members of the Burrard family, whose men were distin
chapter 1|2 pages
Early life and friendship with Robert Southey
Caroline Anne Bowles was born near Lymington, Hampshire, on 6 December 1786. This date, over which there has been a good deal of confusion, has been verified from parish records held in the Hampshire County Record Office. She was baptised on 10 January 1787. The
chapter |13 pages
Early poems, 1820-30
Note on texts: the extract from edition of 1820. The poems from Solitary Hours are taken from the first edition of 1826. The poems from 1836 edition. Spelling has been modernised. 1. From Ellen Fitzarthur: a Metrical Tale, in Five Cantosy 1820
chapter 2|1 pages
Shaping a career: negotiating Blackwood’s
Caroline Anne Bowles, as she then was, can be said to have entered the domain of literary professionalism (a concept she regarded with due suspicion, however) through the Scottish publishing house of Blackwood and Sons. Apart from her two earliest verse volumes,
chapter |14 pages
Occasional poems, 1831-33
1. The C Baroness de Katzleben, authoress of other touching tales and pathetic pieces, 1831
chapter 3|1 pages
A life in verse: The Birth-day, Wordsworth and religion
The publication of The Birth-day in 1836 marked the coming of age of Caroline Bowles as a writer. The title-page not only prints her name authoritatively for the first time, it also gathers in most of her previous works (though not The Cat's Tail or Tales of the Factories) by listing
chapter |21 pages
Verse autobiography, 1836
1836: Note on t he text: the first edition has been followed here, with some
chapter 4|2 pages
Marriage and death
In 1825, the year after the death of her last close family member (her old nurse), Caroline Bowles wrote to Robert Southey:
chapter |12 pages
Last poems, 1836-47
From Robin Hood: a Fragment. By the late Robert Southey and Caroline Southey. With other fragments and poems by R. S. First published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in October 1836.
chapter |5 pages
Prose writings by Caroline Bowles
1. Thoughts on letter writing (extract) First published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, March 1822. Reprinted in Solitary Hours, 1826, pp. 133-47. This version is from This extract forms the finale of a light-hearted essay rehearsing the
chapter |3 pages
Tales of the Factories
One extract from the 85-page summary of documentary evidence per taining to conditions of child labour in the factories, that was appended to the initial publication of This extract was printed exactly as follows (ie in an abridged form) in the original Appendix.
chapter |3 pages
Car oline Bowles’s earnings
Transcript of the statement of account issued to Caroline Bowles by Blackwood’s in July 1838. NLS MS 30 302, ff. 576-7. panded; double-entry layout has not been reproduced.
chapter |1 pages
Caroline Bowles Southey a bibliography
1. Manuscript materials Collections of letters at the National Library of Scotland (Blackwood’s archive), Houghton Library, Harvard, Rochester University Library. 2. Collections and selections
chapter |1 pages
Works cited
Barker, Juliet (1994), The Brontes, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Blain, V., Clements, P. and Grundy, I. (eds) (1990), The Feminist Com Boyle, A. (1966), An Index to the Annuals, Worcester: Andrew Boyle.