Joanna C Yates
Feminine Interiority and Social Protest in the Poetry of Mary Leapor
Yates, Joanna C
Authors
Abstract
Mary Leapor (1722-46) is one of the many under-studied women poets of the eighteenth-century. She is often described as a laboring-class poet which, while historically accurate, implies her immediate marginalization as an writer by her class and gender. Her focus of enquiry explores a new female authorial interiority, embracing her own volition, personality, and aesthetic sensibility through the act of writing itself. This nascent individualism, arising from the examination of feeling, lies at the heart of her work and heralds the social protest that will erupt later in the century. This paper hopes to offer a broader perspective on Leapor’s work through close readings of a selection of her poems and analysis of the ideas this precocious, self-educated woman was exploring in her work.
Citation
Yates, J. C. (in press). Feminine Interiority and Social Protest in the Poetry of Mary Leapor. ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830, 13(2), https://doi.org/10.5038/2157-7129.13.2.1337
| Journal Article Type | Article |
|---|---|
| Acceptance Date | Jan 3, 2025 |
| Online Publication Date | Jan 3, 2025 |
| Deposit Date | Jan 14, 2025 |
| Journal | ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830 |
| Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5038/2157-7129.13.2.1337 |
| Public URL | https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/1044105 |
| Publisher URL | https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/abo/vol13/iss2/1/ |