Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period

Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period is now available online through Alexander Street Press.

Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period includes more than 80 volumes of poetry by approximately 50 Irish women writing between 1768 and 1842. Compiled and edited by Stephen Behrendt of the University of Nebraska, the database also offers numerous biographical and critical essays prepared by leading scholars specifically for the project. New content is added to the collection on a regular basis. It currently contains over 10,000 pages of poetry.

Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period corrects a glaring omission in the literary history of the British Isles—and of Romanticism generally. Comprising more than eighty volumes of poetry by Irish women writing between 1768 and 1842, the database enables researchers to delve more deeply than ever into this significant, but largely underappreciated, body of work.

Most of the texts in the database exist in print in fewer than five libraries in the world, often locked away within archives. For nearly two centuries, the distinctive voices of such poets as Henrietta Battier, I. S. Anna Liddiard, Adelaide O’Keeffe, Elizabeth Ryves, and Melesina Trench have remained practically unheard. Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period allows these women to speak to a new generation of students and scholars.

Along with the poetic texts are biographical and critical essays contributed by the foremost scholars in the field. Specially commissioned by Alexander Street, the essays provide valuable historical context and insightful literary analysis for student and professor alike. For some of the poets, the essays will be the only substantial scholarly assessments available. This combination of primary source content and original scholarly commentary—fully indexed and searchable together—makes Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period an authoritative resource for anyone studying the history and literature of Ireland and Great Britain.

The collection is part of the Alexander Street Literature package, which enables researchers to explore the rich literary heritage of diverse cultures from across the globe.