Manuscript Poetry - The Early Voice of Feminism?

At a time when women writers seem to be particularly successful - J.K.Rowling consistently tops the publishing charts ahead of the men – it’s easy to forget that they haven’t always been so readily accepted.

"Whore is scarce a more reproachful name than poetess” wrote the Earl of Rochester in the 1670s.

Largely restricted to producing hand written manuscript copies of their work, women writers at that time risked social exclusion and worse if their work was publicly exposed.

Now researchers from the University of Warwick have published an anthology of 14 neglected women poets writing between 1589 and 1706.

"Early Modern Women's Manuscript Poetry" opens a window on a fascinating world and brings a female voice to a time which, up to now, has always been interpreted through the work of male writers.