The Collected Poems and Journals of Mary Tighe

Mary Blachford Tighe was born in Dublin in 1772 and became a poet by the age of seventeen. Her enormously popular 1805 epic poem Psyche ; or, The Legend of Love made her a fixture of English literary history for much of the nineteenth century. For much of the twentieth century, however, Tighe was better known for her influence on Keats's poetry than the considerable merits of her own work. The Collected Poems and Journals of Mary Tighe restores Tighe to the general canon of English literature of the period. With over eighty-five poems, including the complete Psyche, and extracts from several journals, both by and about Tighe, Harriet Kramer Linkin's annotated edition is the most complete collection of Mary Tighe's work to be published in one volume. Harriet Kramer Linkin, professor of English at New Mexico State University, is the coeditor of Romanticism and Women Poets: Opening the Doors of Reception. Acclaimed throughout the nineteenth century for her intellectual accomplishments and artistry, Mary Blachford Tighe was most notably known for the "instant classic" Psyche; or, the Legend of Love, an epic that retold the myth of Cupid and Psyche in six-canto Spenserian stanzas. Tighe's work showcased the play of imagination using language and form to simplify the complexities of love, politics, art, spirituality, family, friendship, memory, and nature with intense feeling, imagery, sharp wit, and great technical skill. Her works were widely published across Europe and the United States and became an influence on other authors, such as John Keats, Felicia Hemans, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Edgar Allan Poe.Born in Dublin in 1772, Tighe was raised by her mother, who firmly believed in liberal education for women. Tighe was provided with exceptional opportunities to read widely in English, French, and Italian literature, history, politics, moral philosophy, science, and religion and was encouraged to compose poetry, to translate other works into English, and to keep journals. Tighe continued her writing and intellectual pursuits throughout her life.The Collected Poems and Journals of Mary Tighe evaluates Tighe and her work as part of the Romantic and Spenserian traditions and places her poetry within the general canon of English literature of the Romantic period. This edition is the first comprehensive, chronological, and annotated collection of Tighe's poetry and journals and journals by Tighe's family members. With more than eighty-five poems-nearly one-third of them which have never before been published-as well as the complete Psyche and extracts from several previously unpublished journals, Harriet Kramer Linkin presents the most complete collection of Tighe's work to be published in one volume. Mary Blachford Tighe was born in Dublin in 1722 and became a poet by the age of seventeen. Her enormously popular 1805 epic poem Psyche ; or, The Legend of Love made her a fixture of English literary history for much of the nineteenth century. For much of the twentieth century, however, Tighe was better known for her influence on Keats's poetry than the considerable merits of her own work. The Collected Poems and Journals of Mary Tighe restores Tighe to the general canon of English literature of the period. With over eighty-five poems, including the complete Psyche, and extracts from several journals, both by and about Tighe, Harriet Kramer Linkin's annotated edition is the most complete collection of Mary Tighe's work to be published in one volume. Harriet Kramer Linkin, professor of English at New Mexico State University, is the coeditor of Romanticism and Women Poets: Opening the Doors of Reception "The Collected Poems and Journals of Mary Tighe evaluates Tighe and her work as part of the Romantic and Spenserian traditions and places her poetry within the general canon of English literature of the Romantic period. This edition is the first comprehensive, chronological, and annotated collection of Tighe's poetry and journals by Tighe's family members. With more than eighty-five poems - nearly one-third of them which have never before been published - as well as the complete Psyche and extracts from several previously unpublished journals, Harriet Kramer Linkin presents the most complete collection of Tighe's work to be published in one volume."--Jacket