Elizabeth Bentley (writer)

Infobox Writer
name = Elizabeth Bentley


caption = "Genuine Poetical Compositions, on Various Subjects" (Norwich, by subscription, 1791)
birthdate = 1767
birthplace = Norwich, England, UK
deathdate = death year and age|1839|1767
deathplace = Norwich, England, UK
occupation = Poet
nationality = British
period = 1791–1821
subject = Pastoral, Abolitionism, Animal welfare

Elizabeth Bentley (1767-1839), poet, was born in Norwich to Elizabeth Lawrence and Daniel Bentley. The latter, a journeyman cordwainer who had himself received a good education, educated Elizabeth, his only child. The family faced financial difficulties after he had a stroke in 1777 and was unable to work at his usual trade. He died in 1783, when his daughter was sixteen. Two years later, Bentley reported a new-found desire to write poetry "which [she] had no thought or desire of being seen." [cite Donna Landry, “ [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/62688 Bentley, Elizabeth (bap. 1767, died 1839)] .” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 12 Apr. 2007.] Her first collection, "Genuine Poetical Compositions" (1791), had an impressive 1,935 subscribers, including literary notables Elizabeth Carter, Elizabeth Montagu, William Cowper, and Hester Chapone. As a labouring-class poet, Bentley—"content to be the last and lowest of the tuneful train" ["Genuine Poetical Compositions," lines 30–32.] —adopted a humble stance towards her readers and let it be known that the venture was intended to establish an annuity for she and her mother. Both her collections, however, contained portraits of the author and accounts of her life; the account written in 1790 and published in the first volume is the source of most that is known of her. Her poetry celebrates the countryside and engages in public debates on topics such as abolitionism and cruelty to animals. Cowper compared her favourably with Mary Leapor, a labouring-class poet of the previous generation, citing her "strong natural genius." [Donna Landry, “ [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/62688 Bentley, Elizabeth (bap. 1767, d. 1839)] .” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 12 Apr. 2007.] After the publication of her first volume, Bentley kept a small boarding school and did not publish much—some poems for children; an ode on the Battle of Trafalgar (1805)—for three decades. This hiatus ended with the publication of her "Poems" in 1821. She died nine years later in an almshouse.

Works

* "Genuine Poetical Compositions, on Various Subjects" (Norwich, by subscription, 1791) ( [http://digital.lib.ucdavis.edu/projects/bwrp/Works/BentEGenui.htm Etext] , British Women Romantic Poets Project)
* "Tales for Children in Verse"
* "Poems; being the Genuine Compositions of Elizabeth Bentley" (by subscription, 1821)

Notes

Resources

* Blain, Virginia, et al., eds. "Bentley, Elizabeth." "The Feminist Companion to Literature in English". New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1990. 85.
* Landry, Donna. “ [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/62688 Bentley, Elizabeth (bap. 1767, d. 1839)] .” "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 12 Apr. 2007.