Discussion Questions for 10/4

For October 4th's discussion, we will be looking at: Anonymous p 416, “The Wife’s Lament,” Jane Barker p 492, “A Virgin Life” and Delarivier Manley p 494, “The Duke’s Seduction of his Ward”.

1. It's no coincidence that these poems were grouped together for our reading assignment. What are some of the parallel and/or contrasting themes between each work?  How do they relate to one another, if at all?

2. Once we have identified the parallel and/or contrasting themes, it may be worth while to think about whether or not these women's biographies and life stories have any influence on their subject matter. Do the differing personalities of these women affect the way they write, or do they solely change the content? Does the content even change at all? 

3. Though they both had similar upbringings during the same time period, (both were born to Royalist families in the late 1600's and died in the early 1700's) Jane Barker and Delarivier Manley seem to have very different view points. Should we take into account their upbringings while examining their works if this is the case, or is it irrelevant? 

4. If Jane Barker and Delarivier Manley were to meet and read each others work, how do you believe they would react? Would they be supportive of another woman in their craft, or would they pull a "George Eliot" point of view and believe the other was ruining the reputation of women authors?

5. Backtracking to "The Wife's Lament" by our Anonymous poet; while women scholars make arguments about the author being a woman, there are also scholars who believe it to be written by a man. Since we do not know anything about the author, however, we can only speculate. Do you think the poem was written by a man or a woman, and what is your reasoning? 

6. To expand on this, does the confusion of the gender of the poet stem from their "style" of writing? What makes this piece androgynous/genderless? Are critics merely willing to argue that it is, in fact, androgynous because there is no definitive proof of it being written by a woman? And, if it was discovered that it had been a woman all along, would critics be quick to point out the "obvious" clues? (IE: of course it was written by a woman, look at the overly emotional drivel she penned!).