Elizabeth Rowe

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Elizabeth Rowe (born on 11. November 1674 in Ilchester , Somerset as Elizabeth Singer , died on 20th November 1736 in Frome ) was an English artist. Her work included poetry, music, drawing studies, letters, and literary treatises that were collected and edited after her death.

Life

Singer was the eldest daughter of Elizabeth Portnell and Walter Singer, a pastor and traveling preacher. She is said to have started writing at the age of twelve. At the age of nineteen she corresponded with the author and bookseller John Dunton (1659-1733). Her poems appeared in his magazine The Athenian Mercury , which he later edited as an anthology. Her early style mimicked the successful poet Anne Killigrew . She also expressed herself vehemently in the affirmative to the question of whether women are allowed to write poetry.

The Thynne family, again friends with Anne Finch , were among Singer's supporters. She was courted by Matthew Prior and Isaac Watts , but married the talented poet and universal scientist Thomas Rowe (1687–1715) in 1710, with whom she had an unsteady and short but happy marriage until he died of tuberculosis . She then moved into her father's house in Frome, which she inherited in 1719 along with a considerable fortune. Despite numerous correspondence, which she continued to entertain, she spent the rest of her life in almost monastic seclusion and used half of her income for charitable purposes. She eventually died of a stroke .

She was regarded as an honest, free-thinking letter writer, but at the same time as a firm believer and of high morality. Their language was judged to be rich in images, pure and soulful. Your poem On the death of Mr. Thomas Rowe is said to have influenced Alexander Pope when writing Eloisa to Abelard . In addition to Pope, Samuel Richardson and Samuel Johnson also praised their work. The Friendship in Death ( twenty letters from a dead person to a living person ) were published many times and are considered part of world literature. Her work remained widely popular in the English-speaking world until the 19th century and has also been translated into other languages. She also became internationally known for The History of Joseph ( The Story of Joseph ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 400.
personal data
SURNAME Rowe, Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Singer, Elizabeth (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English poet and writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1674
PLACE OF BIRTH Ilchester (Somerset)
DATE OF DEATH November 20, 1736
Place of death Frome (Somerset)