Reviews
... Those interested in English literature will want this extremely well-annotated edition of a poet whose star is, after long neglect, on the rise. Highly recommended.
... beautiful, indispensable new edition of her poetry... The Collected Poetry of Mary Tighe is a major editorial feat. As a scholar deeply committed to the recovery of women writers of the Romantic period, I am exceedingly grateful for this first-rate scholarly edition of Mary Tighe's poetry.
Academic libraries, especially those with strong English and Women’s Studies departments, will have readers interested in the work contained in this volume.
Thanks to efforts to recover female poets... Tighe is now read and taught, and there are three modern editions of her work. The most recent of these is the scholarly edition published by Johns Hopkins, which collects more than 120 poems, some published for the first time, and includes a critical introduction, explanatory notes and appendices... Its introduction provides a compelling and thorough biography, and the text itself is the most complete corpus of an unduly marginalized poet.
The editors of this beautifully presented and meticulously researched new volume describe Tighe in their introductory essay as a ‘crucial force in shaping British Romanticism’ and both the poetic and editorial material included here will play a significant part in re-establishing her place within late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century literary contexts. Paula Feldman and Brian Cooney’s detailed introductory essay and scrupulous editorial notes do an impressive job of resituating Tighe and re-evaluating her work, making this an essential text for scholars of both Tighe and Romantic-period literature more generally... The body of poetry presented here reveals shared interests and concerns with canonical poets as well as with those who have already begun to challenge our canons and understanding of Romanticism, and clearly indicates that Tighe does indeed need to be situated ‘not at the periphery but at the very center of what we have come to call Romanticism.’
The volume is a signal accomplishment, and one that may justifiably be called definitive.
Mary Tighe's work is every bit as important as the editors argue. This complete collection of poetry, as well as the supplementary writings contained within, is a great boon to the scholarship of the period.
This anthology is not just a gift to scholars of Mary Tighe, a group whose numbers will no doubt swell as a result of Paula Feldman and Brian Cooney’s groundbreaking work. It is also a gift to any reader who cares about the history of poetry, the history of women, the history of Ireland, or the literature of the Romantic period. The Collected Poetry of Mary Tighe, from its authoritative introduction, its raft of previously unpublished poems, and its careful editing and copious annotations, is a massive contribution exquisitely presented. Mary Tighe’s technically stunning verse has long deserved careful editorial treatment.
Book Details
Acknowledgments
Notes on the Texts and Other Editorial Matters
Abbreviations Used in the Notes
Brief Chronology
Introduction
Part I: Psyche; or, The Legend of Love (1805)
Part II: "Verses Transcribed for H
Acknowledgments
Notes on the Texts and Other Editorial Matters
Abbreviations Used in the Notes
Brief Chronology
Introduction
Part I: Psyche; or, The Legend of Love (1805)
Part II: "Verses Transcribed for H. T."
Volume I
Volume II
Part III: Late Poems and Fugitive Verse
Appendixes
1. False and Doubtful Attributions
2. Nineteenth-Century Poetic Response to Mary Tighe
3. Substantive Variants, Psyche, or the Legend of Love, March 1849 Signed Holograph Manuscript
4. From Mary, a Series of Reflections
5. Theodosia Blachford to Rev. Henry Moore: Extracts from Letters Concerning Mary Tighe
6. Inventory of Known Copies of Psyche, or the Legend of Love (1805)
7. Addendum to Late Poens and Fugitive Verse by Mary Tighe
Bibliography
Index of Titles and First Lines