Invention and re-invention: the composition of Mary Robinson's Lyrical tales (1800)

Abstract

This thesis is a discussion of Mary Robinson's Lyrical Tales (1800), and is divided into two sections. It contributes to recent critical discussion of Robinson by examining her role as an editor of her own work, and considering Lyrical Tales as a volume, particularly in the context of currently accepted notions of Romantic writing. The first section examines Robinson's place within late eighteenth century and late twentieth century critical discussions. Chapter One discusses recent critical material on Robinson and suggests some potential new directions for research, particularly with regard to Robinson's financial motives when publishing. Chapter Two outlines Robinson's connections with John Wolcot, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth. These connections underline her prominence in late eighteenth century literary culture. Chapter Three looks at the reviews of Robinson's 1791 Poems (volume one) and 1793 Poems (volume two) in the major reviewing publications of her time, and compares these criticisms with the reviews of Lyrical Tales, drawing attention to the personal and political motives of the newspapers and magazines that critiqued Robinson. The second section is devoted to the poems of Lyrical Tales. The poems have been grouped to highlight important themes, rather than to constitute definitive groupings. Chapter Four discusses the impact of the literary trends of Sensibility and Romanticism on Lyrical Tales. The two styles are both in evidence in Robinson's work, illustrating the similarities between them, and the commercial flexibility of poetry that incorporates different styles. Chapter Five looks at Robinson's characterisation of compassion, through narrators, parents, and interlocutors, and draws attention to the implicit critique of the 'compassionate' reader. Chapter Six examines the political context of war and exile in the poems, and the ways in which Robinson does and does not resemble other women writers in her handling of these themes. Chapter Seven discusses race and Robinson's place within the anti-slavery literary movement. Robinson's biographical details and the composition histories of her poems about race are drawn on to provide insight into her complex role as an author and a reformer. Chapter Eight examines a group of poems originally published under the pseudonym 'Tabitha Bramble' in the Morning Post, which undermine some of the conventional settings and characters in other Lyrical Tales poems, and are the most obvious departures from both Sensibility and Wordsworth's and Coleridge's 1798 Lyrical Ballads. Appendix A contains a list of the Lyrical Tales poems and their places of publication.