Victorian women poets lived in a time when religion was a vital aspect of their identities. Cynthia Scheinberg examines Anglo-Jewish (Grace Aguilar and Amy Levy) and Christian (Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti) women poets, and argues that there are important connections between the discourses of nineteenth-century poetry, gender and religious identity. Broadly interdisciplinary, the book's methodology relates to studies in poetics, religious studies, feminist literary criticism, and little-known Anglo-Jewish primary sources.
Author(s): Cynthia Scheinberg
Series: Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 290
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 4
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 11
"BEHOLD HOW WE PREACH": WOMEN’S RELIGIOUS POETRY AND CONTRADICTIONS OF LITERARY HISTORY......Page 15
FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM AND THE RELIGION ‘‘PROBLEM’’: CHRISTINA ROSSETTI AS TEST-CASE......Page 21
RELIGION AS A "MARK OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCE": NEW QUESTIONS FOR WOMEN’S POETRY......Page 29
CONQUERORS AND EXILES: JEWISH DIFFERENCE IN THE "CONTACT ZONE" OF VICTORIAN POETICS......Page 35
"INSUFFICIENT AND PARTIAL": JEWISH PROPHETS, WOMEN POETS, AND THE TYPOLOGICAL PARADIGM......Page 46
"TOSSED TO AND FRO": GENDERED CROSSINGS IN PROPHETIC/POETIC IDENTITY......Page 51
RECONFIGURING THE HEART: POETRY AS THEOLOGY......Page 56
THE SWEET SINGERS OF ISRAEL: JEWISHNESS IN VICTORIAN POETICS......Page 66
"HEBREW ROOTS ENOUGH…TO FRIGHTEN": THE DOUBLE EDGE OF HEBRAIC KNOWLEDGE......Page 76
BARRETT BROWNING’S HEBRAIC DISPLAY: THE AUTHORITY OF HEBREW LANGUAGE......Page 83
KISSING MOSES/KISSING CHRIST: THE JUDAIZING OF THE VIRGIN MARY......Page 90
MARRYING OFF MIRIAM: CHRISTIAN CONVERSION IN AURORA LEIGH......Page 99
"A LINE DRAWN SOMEWHERE": ROSSETTI AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF DIFFERENCE......Page 120
"MAGNIFY MINE OFFICE": JEWISHNESS AND FEMALENESS IN SEEK AND FIND......Page 123
"AS A TALE ENDS THAT IS TOLD": ROSSETTI’S DIALOGUE WITH HEBREW PROPHECY......Page 132
GOBLIN MARKET: ROSSETTI’S REWRITING OF HEBREW PROPHECY......Page 140
"IF I MIGHT TAKE MY LIFE SO IN MY HAND": "MONNA INNOMINATA" AND THE HEROIC JEWISH WOMAN......Page 149
INTRODUCTION: FROM ‘‘PECULIAR’’ TO ‘‘ELOQUENT’’: POETRY AS THEOLOGICAL STRATEGY......Page 160
BACKGROUNDS: BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL......Page 164
REORGANIZING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE: AGUILAR’S ALLIANCE WITH ROMANTICISM......Page 169
AGUILAR AND ROMANTIC POETIC MODELS......Page 177
THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF ANGLO-JEWISH DEVOTIONAL LYRIC......Page 181
"THE HIGH-SOUNDING RELIGION OF FLOWING VERSE": AGUILAR AND THE POETRY OF BIBLICAL WOMEN......Page 188
"MY COUNTRY! OH MY COUNTRY!": EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF ANGLO-JEWISH PROPHECY......Page 197
CHAPTER 6 Amy Levy and the accents of minor(ity) poetry......Page 204
LEVY OF CAMBRIDGE AND THE CONTRAST WITH GRACE AGUILAR......Page 209
"SAYING SHIBBOLETH": LEVY'S THEORY OF MINOR POETRY......Page 219
"A WOMAN WITH A HEART OF STONE": CHALLENGING THE POETICS OF CHRISTIAN WOMANHOOD......Page 232
"SHALL I WANDER IN VAIN FOR MY COUNTRY?" LEVY AND JEWISH LITERARY TRADITION......Page 241
"SOME OTHER WHERE": CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER QUESTIONS......Page 247
1 INTRODUCTION......Page 252
2 "SWEET SINGERS OF ISRAEL": GENDERED AND JEWISH OTHERNESS IN VICTORIAN POETICS......Page 254
3 ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING AND THE "HEBRAIC MONSTER"......Page 256
4 CHRISTINA ROSSETTI AND THE HEBRAIC GOBLINS OF THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES......Page 260
5 "JUDAISM RIGHTLY REVERENCED": GRACE AGUILAR'S THEOLOGICAL POETICS......Page 264
6 AMY LEVY AND THE ACCENTS OF MINOR(ITY) POETRY......Page 266
Bibliography......Page 270
Index......Page 286
