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Jane Barker

(1652-1732) was a popular fiction writer, poet, and a staunch Jacobite. She went into self-imposed exile when James II fled England to Saint-Germain-en-Laye when William of Orange threatened the English throne during the Glorious Revolution in 1688 . Her novels, The Amours of Bosvil and Galesia, also published as Love Intrigues (1713), Exilius or The Banish'd Roman (1715), A Patchwork Screen for the Ladies (1723), and The Lining of the Patchwork Screen for the Ladies (1726) were written after she returned to London from Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1704. Prior to and during her exile, she wrote a collection of poems justifying the value of feminine education and female single life, "Poetical Recreations" (1688), and a group of political poems, "A Collection of Poems Referring to the Times" (1701), which conveyed her anxiety towards the political future of England . Although not commonly praised for her letter writing, there are four extant letters found in the British Library and within the Magdalen Manuscript at the Oxford Magdalen library, written between 1670-88. . Jane Barker was one of the first female authors to publish writings both in manuscript and print form, allowing modern scholars to study "the passage of Barker's poetry from coterie circles to larger, more impersonal communities of readers"

Early Life

Jane Barker was born in May 1652, in the village of Blatherwick, Northamptonshire in England to Thomas Barker and Anne Connock. Anne Connock seems to be descended from an unlanded and Roman Catholic branch of the Connock family, explaining Jane's Papist affiliation and condemnation after she returns from exile. When Jane was 10 years old, Thomas Barker leased a property and manor in Wilsthorp, Lincolnshire. This property was to be bequeathed to both Jane Barker and her mother upon her father's death in 1681 and she returned to the property upon returning from exile in 1704. A member of a royalist family, Jane Barker went into exile with James II once William of Orange entered England, threatening an overthrow of the outwardly Catholic James II.

As a young woman, Jane Barker was taught Latin, anatomy, and herbal medicine by her brother, Edward, who matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford in 1668 and earned his M.A. from Christ Church, Oxford in 1674-5.There is some proof of Jane Barker's tutelage in medicine coming to fruition with Dr. Barker's Famous Gout Plaister, and within her poems discussing anatomy found in her "Poetical Recreations" . Obviously indebted to her brother for providing her with the basis of her education, Jane mourned his death in 1675, shortly after he finished his time at the University of Oxford.

Political Affiliations & Exile

Following an ideology of Jacobitism, and a royalist, Jane Barker was one of the 40,000 people who followed James II in exile to Saint-Germain en Laye in 1689. They maintained court in Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye Barker's affiliation with many Cambridge scholars within her coterie helped to establish Barker as a scholar, which may not have even comprised much of Barker's work at the time of publication and reissued a great number of poems in what critics have dubbed the Magdalen Manuscript, in which she asserts that they are "now corrected by her own hand", suggesting that the poetry was not ready for public viewing at the time of publication. Within "Poetical Recreations," Barker takes the time to deconstruct femininity, the necessity for a woman to marry, and society's view of spinsterhood . It is through Jane Barker's handwritten comments within the Magdalen Manuscript that scholar Karolyn King was able to attest to the autobiographical bent in much her writings.

"A Collection of Poems Referring to the Times"

Written at the end of her time at Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, "A Collection of Poems Referring to the Times" is political in nature and takes a Pro-Stuart position. The speaker from the collection, Fidelia, was considered highly autobiographical. She is characterized as a Stuart loyalist and Catholic convert, depicting Barker's own political affiliations. Upon returning to England, Jane Barker gave a copy of her "A Collection of Poems Referring to the Times" to the Prince of Wales for his birthday. The manuscript holding in the British Library may contain a prototype copy of the collection.

Legacy

Jane Barker was the first woman to firmly position herself as an author working with both manuscript and print media. Choosing to publish in both spheres allowed her work access to both a mainstream readership as well as the more intimate coteries of which she was a member. Depicted as being an autobiographical author by Kathryn R. King, Jane Barker's works display an overwhelming feminist bent, offering her readership information regarding the values of single womanhood as well as the value of female education and interest in politics. There is evidence that Barker used Katherine Philips' Orinda as a model for her own speaker, Fidelia, though without the homosexual undertones that are present within Katherine Philips' and many other female poets' writing style.

References

King, Kathryn and Jeslyn Medoff. "Jane Barker and Her Life (1652-1732): The Documentary Record." Eighteenth Century Life. 21.3 (1997): 16-38. Web. 8 October 2015.
King, Kathryn R. "Barker, Jane (bap. 1652, d.1732)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford UP, 2004. Web.
--- Jane Barker, exile: A Literary Career, 1675-1725. New York: Clarendon Press, 2000. Print
Mello, Patrick. "Barker, Jane." The Encyclopedia of British Literature 1660-1789. Ed. Gary Day and Jack Lynch. Blackwell Publishing, 2015. Blackwell Reference Online 21 July 2015.
Pickard, Claire. "Jane Barker." Perdita. University of Warwickshire. Web. 25 October 2015.
The Galesia Trilogy and Selected Manuscript Poems of Jane Barker. Ed. Carol Shiner Wilson. New York: Oxford UP, 1997. Print.
Spencer, Jane. "Creating the Woman Writer: The Autobiographical Works of Jane Barker." Tulsa Studies in Literature. 2.2 (1983): 165-181. Web. 13 October 2015.

ChaudharyAA (talk) 03:57, 1 December 2015 (UTC)ChaudharyAA Hi Kristin, Your article looks great and reads well. The organization is clear and the sub-sections make the article less confusing. My only suggestion is to add an image or two. Perhaps an image of Jane Barker and maybe a frontise piece or first page of a publication. Best, Atika.