Abstract

A close contextual reading of the poetry printed in the Women's Penny Paper (later the Woman's Herald), published 1888-1893, reveals that apparent ideological contradictions between the prose and poetic elements of the paper may reveal complementarity as much as inconsistency. The paper's political aspirations are re-envisioned in conventional poetry as a state of future exaltation compatible with Christian belief. Poetry helps bridge the disjuncture between political and domestic ideals of womanhood; extends the empathetic impact of journalistic reporting; enables feminist redeployment of biblical paradigms; and ultimately helps create a myth of divinised femininity sanctioning the appeal for political rights.

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