Unveiling Hannah Cowley (1743-1809): Analysis and translation of the poetic and sentimental games under the name of Anna Matilda
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24197/her.26.2024.423-453Keywords:
Hannah Cowley, Anna Matilda, Robert Merry, William Gifford, the Della Crusca movement, poetic and sentimental games, poetic translationAbstract
This paper focuses on a highly popular late eighteenth-century linguistic-poetic competition between the well-known writer Hannah Cowley and the leader of the Della Cruscan poetic movement, Robert Merry. Their “playful literature of sensibility” challenged the conventional forms of poetry and was fervently followed by the public. Nevertheless, the short-lived activity of this literary group was soon fulminated by the attacks of critics and satirists such as William Gifford, whose exacerbated acrimony and deeply biased attitude precipitated the eradication of the movement. As a result, this work has been judged by its “non-readers” (Labbe, 2009) mostly through criticism rather than by the original text. For this reason, with the intention of contributing to a greater and fairer knowledge of these authors that may open the possibility of new readings of their work, we present the analysis and translation into Spanish of three poems signed by Anna Matilda (Hannah Cowley) in response to Della Crusca, belonging to the amorous exchange scripted for the readers of The World.
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