Elizabeth Thomas (poet, Born 1675)
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Elizabeth Thomas (1675 – 1731) was a British poet and letter writer. She was part of an important artistic group in London and
John Dryden John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (En ...
named her "Corinna". However, she suffered from lifelong financial precarity, romantic disappointment, and latterly, health problems. Her reputation was damaged by
Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...
and she spent three years in a debtor's prison near the end of her life.


Life and career


Early years

Elizabeth Thomas was born in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, the only child of Elizabeth Osborne (died 1719), aged 16, and lawyer Emmanuel Thomas (died 1677), aged 60.Lonsdale, pp. 32–33. Her father died when she was an infant, leaving Osborne to take care of her. Osborne and Thomas faced many financial difficulties while living in Surrey, and after some time they returned to London to live in Great Russel Street. She was educated at home, was well read, and learned some French and Latin.


Mid-life

By her mid twenties, Thomas was a confident poet who shared her poetry with literary figures of the day. As an impoverished
gentlewoman A gentlewoman (from the Latin ''gentilis'', belonging to a ''gens'', and English 'woman') in the original and strict sense is a woman of good family, analogous to the Latin ''generosus'' and ''generosa''. The closely related English word "gentr ...
, she was dependent on others for patronage, and she was fortunate to be part of an illustrious artistic and literary circle which included
Mary Chudleigh Mary, Lady Chudleigh (; August 1656–1710) was an English poet who belonged to an intellectual circle that included Mary Astell, Elizabeth Thomas, Judith Drake, Elizabeth Elstob, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and John Norris. In her later ye ...
,
Mary Astell Mary Astell (12 November 1666 – 11 May 1731) was an English protofeminist author, philosopher, and rhetorician who advocated for equal educational opportunities for women. Astell is primarily remembered as one of England's inaugural advocate ...
,
Judith Drake Judith Drake (fl. 1670s – 1723) was an English intellectual and author who was active in the last decade of the 17th century. She was part of a circle of intellectuals, authors, and philosophers which included Mary Astell, Lady Mary Chudleigh, ...
,
Elizabeth Elstob Elizabeth Elstob (29 September 1683 – 3 June 1756), the "Saxon Nymph", was a pioneering scholar of Anglo-Saxon. She was the first person to publish a grammar of Old English written in modern English. Life Elstob was born and brought up in the ...
,
Mary Wortley Montagu Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (née Pierrepont; 15 May 168921 August 1762) was an English people, English Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, medical pioneer, writer, and poet. Born in 1689, Lady Mary spent her early life in England. In 1712, Lady Ma ...
, John Norris, and painter Sarah Hoadly, wife of
Benjamin Hoadly Benjamin Hoadly (14 November 167617 April 1761) was an English clergyman, who was successively Bishop of Bangor, of Hereford, of Salisbury, and finally of Winchester. He is best known as the initiator of the Bangorian Controversy. Life ...
. She sent
John Dryden John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (En ...
two poems not long before his death, and he responded, "your ''Verses'' were, I thought, too good to be a Woman's."Greer, p, 429. Dryden then compared Thomas to the famous
Katherine Philips Katherine or Catherine Philips (; 1 January 1631/222 June 1664), also known as "The Matchless Orinda", was an Anglo-Welsh royalist poet, translator, and woman of letters. She achieved renown as a translator of Pierre Corneille's '' Pom ...
. It was also
John Dryden John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (En ...
who gave her, at her request, a ''nom de plume'': "Corinna". Her first known publication was an
elegy An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
, "To the Memory of the Truly Honoured John Dryden, Esq", published anonymously in the collection ''Luctus Britannici'' (1700). Thomas was engaged for sixteen years to Richard Gwinnett (1675–1717). The couple was not in a financial position to get married until 1716 when Gwinnett finally came into an inheritance. Thomas then postponed the marriage in order to nurse her terminally ill mother. Gwinnett died of
consumption Consumption may refer to: * Eating *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically known as consumption * Consumer (food chain), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of n ...
the next year, and although he left Thomas a legacy, his family suppressed his will. After litigation, Thomas could not cover her legal costs. During their engagement they had maintained an extensive correspondence, much of which was published as ''Pylades and Corinna'' (1731–2) and ''The Honourable Lovers'' (1732; repr. 1736) after Thomas's death by Edmund Curll. Thomas was active and had a reputation in London and Bath literary circles. She experimented with a wide range of literary forms including
lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...
,
panegyric A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of - ' ...
s,
pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...
s,
polemic Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...
s, religious meditations, and
satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...
s. Much of her poetry dealt with women's issues, particularly women's right to education, as women were in her time "still deny'd th'Improvement of our Mind." In "On Sir J- S- saying in a Sarcastic Manner, My books would make me Mad. An Ode" (1722), the poet exposes the faulty logic of "Sir J– S–" and concludes that he and other men who would deny women access to learning are motivated by
an avaricious Soul,
Which would, with greedy Eyes, monopolize the whole:
And bars us Learning on the selfish Score:
That conscious of our native Worth,
Ye dread to make it more. (ll. 80—84)
Her work initially circulated in manuscript, but due to financial necessity she published ''Miscellany Poems on Several Subjects'' anonymously in 1722, and thereafter sought print publication.


Reputation

Her friend
Henry Cromwell Henry Cromwell (20 January 1628 – 23 March 1674) was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier, and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland. Biography Early life Henry Cromwell was born at Huntingdon on ...
at one point gave Thomas some letters he had received from a young
Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...
. Impoverished, Thomas sold these letters to
Edmund Curll Edmund Curll (''c.'' 1675 – 11 December 1747) was an English bookseller and publisher. His name has become synonymous, through the attacks on him by Alexander Pope, with unscrupulous publication and publicity. Curll rose from poverty to wealth ...
in 1726. Curll promptly published the letters in ''Miscellanea in Two Volumes'' (1726), much to the irritation of Pope. For this infraction he lampooned Thomas in ''
The Dunciad ''The Dunciad'' () is a landmark, mock-heroic, narrative poem by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times from 1728 to 1743. The poem celebrates a goddess, Dulness, and the progress of her chosen agents as they ...
'' (1728) as "Curll's Corinna" (II 66):
Full in the middle way there stood a lake,
Which Curl's Corinna chanc'd that morn to make:
(Such was her wont, at early dawn to drop
Her evening cates before his neighbour's shop) ( Bk. II, ll. 69—72)
These
scatological In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of faeces. Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (nutrition), diet (and thus habitat (ecology), where ...
lines are generally interpreted as referring to ongoing medical issues Thomas suffered — "a history of fluxes, purges, and Surgical and medical horrors"McWhir, 20. — after 1711. A minor revenge was attributed to her by Pope — the publication of ''
Codrus Codrus (; ; Greek: , ''Kódros'') was the last of the semi-mythical Kings of Athens (r. ca 1089– 1068 BC). He was an ancient exemplar of patriotism and self-sacrifice. He was succeeded by his son Medon, who it is claimed ruled not as king bu ...
, or, '
The Dunciad ''The Dunciad'' () is a landmark, mock-heroic, narrative poem by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times from 1728 to 1743. The poem celebrates a goddess, Dulness, and the progress of her chosen agents as they ...
' Dissected'' (1728). Her reputation was severely damaged by the notoriety, and she was long believed to have been Cromwell's mistress though there is scant reason to believe she was.


Later life

Thomas continued to publish through the 1720s, but was unable to meet her debts and was jailed in the
Fleet prison Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the River Fleet. The prison was built in 1197, was rebuilt several times, and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846. History The prison was built in 1197 off what is now ...
in 1727 for three years. However, she managed to put even that time to use and wrote from her cell. Within a year of her release, Thomas died and was buried at
St Bride's, Fleet Street St Bride's Church is a Church of England church in Fleet Street in the City of London. Likely dedicated to Bridget of Kildare, Saint Bridget perhaps as early as the 6th century, the building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christo ...
in 1731.


Legacy

Her publishing history is complicated and as one commentator has it, "Her few authentic works have been upstaged by the many miscellaneous writings which survive in forms probably significantly changed from the way she left them." Another commentator describes Thomas's critical reputation until the twentieth century: "The poetry - often witty and lively, with sharp satiric insights into the social predicament of women - is predictably dismissed, though part of the fate of Rosalinda in Thomas's 'The Execration' is ironically borne out by the poet's own experience: 'To live reserved and free from blame, / And yet incur an evil fame' (l. 36).McWhir, 27. Thomas's writing has been anthologized in Greer's ''Kissing the Rod: an anthology of seventeenth-century women's verse'' (1988) and Lonsdale's '' Eighteenth Century Women Poets: An Oxford Anthology'' (1989).


Selected works

*"To the Memory of the Truly Honoured John Dryden, Esq", ''Luctus Britannici'' (anon., 1700) *''Miscellany Poems on Several Subjects'' (anon.; London: Tomas Combes, 1722); rpt. ''Poems on Several Occasions'' (London: Tomas Combes, 1726); rpt. ''Poems on Several Occasions. To John Dryden Esq; Hen. Cromwel Esq; Reverend Mr. Norris, Sir R. L'Estrange, Lord Hallifax, Anth. Henly Esq; Sir Samuel Garth, Lady Chudleigh, Lady Packington, And Mrs. Phillips, Written by a Lady. The Second Edition''. (London: Thomas Astley, 1727) *''Codrus, or, ‘The Dunciad’ Dissected. Being the Finishing-Stroke. To which is added, Farmer Pope and his Son. A Tale. By Mr. Philips.'' (attrib.; pseud.; London: Edmund Curll, 1728) *''Metamorphosis of the Town; or, a View of the Present Fashions. A Tale: After the Manner of Fontaine.'' (anon.; London: J. Wilford, 1730; repr. 1731, 1732; posthumously under her own name, 1743) *R. Gwinnett and E. Thomas, ''Pylades and Corinna: or, memoirs of the lives, amours, and writings of Richard Gwinnett Esq; Of Great Shurdington in Gloucestershire; and Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas Junr. Of Great Russel Street, Bloomsbury. Containing, the letters and other miscellaneous pieces, in Prose and Verse, which passed between them during a courtship of above sixteen years. Faithfully published from their Original Manuscripts. Attested By Sir Edward Northey, Knight. To which is prefixed, The life of Corinna. Written by her self''. 2 vols. (London: Edmund Curll, 1731–2) *''The Honourable Lovers'' (1732; repr. 1736) *''"To Almystrea ary Astell on Her Divine Works" RL''


Notes and references


Notes


References

*Blain, Virginia, et al., eds. "Thomas, Elizabeth." ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English''. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1990. pp. 1075–1076. *Brown, Susan, et al.
Elizabeth Thomas
" ''Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present''. Ed. Susan Brown, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge UP, n.d. 22 Mar. 2013. Accessed 14 Sept. 2022. * Clarke, Norma. ''The rise and fall of the woman of letters''. London: Pimlico, 2004. *Greer, Germaine, et al., eds. "Elizabeth Thomas." ''Kissing the Rod: an anthology of seventeenth-century women's verse''. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988. pp. 429–438. *Roger Lonsdale, ed. "Elizabeth Thomas." '' Eighteenth Century Women Poets: An Oxford Anthology''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 32–33. *McWhir, Anne. "Elizabeth Thomas and the Two Corinnas: giving the woman writer a bad name." ''ELH'' Mar 22, 1995.
Etext
The Free Library) *Mills, Rebecca.
Thomas, Elizabeth (1675–1731)
" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 13 May 2007.
Thomas, Elizabeth
" ''The Women's Print History Project'', 2019, Person ID 1422. Accessed 2022-09-12. {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Elizabeth 1675 births 1731 deaths 18th-century English women writers English women poets 18th-century English writers 18th-century English people Literary circles