List of early-modern British women poets

This is an alphabetical list of female poets who were active in the United Kingdom before approximately 1800. Nota bene: Poetry is the focus of this list, though many of these writers worked in more than one genre.

• Eliza Acton (1799–1859)
• Jean Adams (1704–1765)
• Lucy Aikin (1781–1864)
• Mary Alcock (c.1742–1798)
• Elizabeth Amherst (c.1716–1779)
• Anne Askew (1521–1546)
• Mary Astell (1666–1731)
• Penelope Aubin (c.1658–1731)
• Katherine Austen (1629–c.1683)
• Grizel Baillie (1665–1746)
• Joanna Baillie (1762–1851)
• Anne Bannerman (1765 – 1829)
• Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825)
• Mary Barber (c.1690–1757)
• Jane Barker (1652–1732)
• Elizabeth Bath (fl. 1806)
• Henrietta Battier (c.1751–1813)
• Aphra Behn (1640–1689)
• Elizabeth Bentley (1767–1839)
• Matilda Betham (1776–1852)
• Susanna Blamire (1747–1794)
• Frances Boothby (fl. 1669–1670)
• Anne Bradstreet (c.1612–1672)
• Barbarina Brand (1767–1854)
• Hannah Brand (1754 – 1821)
• Frances Brooke (1724–1789)
• Frances Burney (1752–1840)
• Mary Cary (fl. 1650)
• Elizabeth Carter (1717–1806)
• Elizabeth Cary (1585–1639)
• Jane Cavendish (1620/21–1669)
• Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673)
• Dorothea Celesia (bap. 1738, d. 1790)
• Susannah Centlivre (1667–1723)
• Hester Chapone (1727–1801)
• Mary Chudleigh (1656–1710)
• Alison Cockburn (1713–1794)
• An Collins (fl. 1653)
• Hannah Cowley (1743–1809)
• Charlotte Dacre (1782–1841)
• Alicia D'Anvers (1667–1725)
• Mary Davys (1674–1732)
• Eliza Day (fl. 1734–1814)
• Katherine Doyley Dyer (d. 1654)
• Elizabeth Egerton (1626–1663)
• Sarah Fyge Egerton (1670–1723)
• Jean Elliot (1727–1805)
• Elizabeth Elstob (1683–1756)
• Catherine Maria Fanshawe (1765–1834)
• Anne Finch (1661–1720)
• Martha Fowke (1689-1736)
• Caroline Fry (1787–1846)
• Frances Greville (c.1727–1789)
• Jane Grey (1537–1554)
• Constantia Grierson (c.1705–1732)
• Anne Halkett (1623–1699)
• Margaret Harvey (1768–1858)
• Eliza Haywood (1693–1756)
• Felicia Hemans (1793–1835)
• Mary Heron (fl.1786-17920
• Susanna Highmore (1689/90–1750)
• Lucy Hutchinson (1620–1681)
• Anna Brownell Jameson (1794–1860)
• Isabella Kelly (c.1759–1857)
• Anne Killigrew (1660–1685)
• Caroline Lamb (1785–1828)
• Mary Lamb (1764–1847)
• Laetitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838)
• Aemilia Lanier (1569–1645)
• Mary Leapor (1722–1746)
• Charlotte Lennox (1720–1804)
• Anne Ley (c. 1599-1641)
• Anne Lindsay (1750–1825)
• Mary Linskill (1840-1891)
• Judith Madan (1702–1781)
• Bathsua Makin (1600–c.1675)
• Delarivier Manley (1663 or ca. 1670–1724)
• Elizabeth Melville, Lady Culross (fl. 1598–1631)
• Mary Russell Mitford (1787–1855)
• Mary Mollineux (c.1651–1696)
• Mary Wortley Montagu (c.1689–1762)
• Hannah More (1745–1833)
• Sydney Owenson Morgan (1783–1859)
• Celia Moss Levetus (1819-1873)
• Amelia Opie (1769–1853)
• Mary Oxlie (fl. 1616)
• Catherine Parr (c.1512–1548)
• Katherine Philips (1631–1664)
• Sarah Piers (1697–1714)
• Laetitia Pilkington (c.1708–1750)
• Hester Lynch Piozzi (1740–1821)
• Mary Pix (1666–1709)
• Anne Plumptre (1760–1818)
• Anna Maria Porter (1780–1832)
• Susanna Hawkins (1787–1868)
• Diana Primrose (fl. 1630)
• Ann Radcliffe (1764–1823)
• Clara Reeve (1729–1807)
• Mary Robinson (1757–1800)
• Elizabeth Singer Rowe (née Singer) (1674–1737)
• Mary Scott (1752–1793)
• Anna Seward (1742–1809)
• Elizabeth Sara Sheppard (1830–1862)
• Elizabeth Ann Sheridan (1754–1792)
• Mary Sidney Herbert (1561–1621)
• Charlotte Turner Smith (1749–1806)
• Elizabeth Smith (1776–1806)
• Joanna Southcott (1750–1814)
• Rachel Speght (b. c.1597)
• Mariana Starke (c.1762–1838)
• Anne Steele (1717–1778)
• Agnes Strickland (1796–1874)
• Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia (1596–1660)
• Ann Taylor (1782–1866)
• Elizabeth Taylor (fl. 1685–1720)
• Jane Taylor (1783–1824)
• Elizabeth Thomas (1675–1731)
• Elizabeth Thomas (1770/71–1855)
• Mary Tighe (1772–1810)
• Anna Trapnel (fl. 1654–1660)
• Catherine Trotter (1679–1749)
• Elizabeth Tudor (1533–1603)
• Elizabeth Wardlaw (1677–1727)
• Anna Weamys (fl. 1651)
• Jane West (1758–1852)
• Anne Wharton (1659–1685)
• Isabella Whitney (b. c.1540, fl. 1566–1573)
• Anna Williams (1706–1783)
• Helen Maria Williams (c.1761–1827)
• Jane Wiseman (c.1682–1717)
• Dorothy Wordsworth (1771–1855)
• Frances Wright (1795–1852)
• Mary Wroth (1587–1652)
• Ann Yearsley (c.1753–1806)

See also

• List of early-modern women playwrights (UK)
• List of female poets
• List of feminist poets
• List of poets
• List of women rhetoricians
• List of women writers
• Lists of writers
• Oxford period poetry anthologies
• Women Writers Project
• Women's writing in English

References

• Backscheider, Paula, and John Richetti, eds. Popular Fiction by Women, 1660-1730: An Anthology. Oxford: OUP, 1996.
• Blain, Virginia, et al., eds. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1990.
• Buck, Claire, ed.The Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature. Prentice Hall, 1992.
• Greer, Germaine, ed. Kissing the Rod: an anthology of seventeenth-century women's verse. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988.
• Lonsdale, Roger ed. Eighteenth-Century Women Poets: An Oxford Anthology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: OUP, 2004.
• Robertson, Fiona, ed. Women's Writing, 1778-1838. Oxford: OUP, 2001.
• Todd, Janet, ed. British Women Writers: a critical reference guide. London: Routledge, 1989.

External links

• 17th Century Women Poets Biographical and bibliographical information on selected poets
• British Women Romantic Poets An electronic collection of texts for the period (1789–1832).
• The Brown University Women Writers Project Emphasis is on pre-Victorian women writers.
• A Celebration of Women Writers A major focus of this site is the development of on-line editions of older, often rare, out-of-copyright works.
• Emory Women Writers Resource Project A collection of texts by women writing from the seventeenth century through the early twentieth century.
• List of biographical dictionaries Collectively, the resources at this site provide information about any 17th-century British women writer one could imagine.
• Luminarium An online Anthology of English Literature
• A Time-Line of English Poetry from Old English to Post Modern
• Representative Poetry Online Includes an index of 4,079 English poems by 618 poets, with bibliographies and literary criticism.
• Romantic Circles, a refereed scholarly website devoted to the study of Romantic-period literature and culture.