Elizabeth Thomas (poet)
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Thomas poet, was born in London, the only child of Elizabeth Osborne (died 1719), aged 16, and lawyer Emmanuel Thomas (d. 1677), aged 60. Her father died when she was an infant and she and her mother faced financial hardship. She was educated at home, was well read, and learnt some French and Latin. As an impoverished gentlewoman
, she was dependent on others for patronage, and she was fortunate to be part of an illustrious artistic and literary circle which included Lady Mary Chudleigh
, Mary Astell
, Judith Drake
, Elizabeth Elstob
, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
, John Norris, and painter Sarah Hoadly, wife of Benjamin Hoadly
. She sent Dryden
two poems not long before his death, and he responded, "your Verses were, I thought, too good to be a Woman's." He went on to compare her to Katherine Philips
, and it was he who gave her her nome de plume, "Corinna." Her first known publication was an elegy, "To the Memory of the Truly Honoured John Dryden, Esq", published anonymously in the collection Luctus Britannici (1700).
She was engaged for sixteen years to Richard Gwinnett (1675–1717), though the couple were not in a financial position to marry until 1716, at which point Thomas postponed the marriage in order to nurse her terminally ill mother. Gwinnett died the next year, and although he left Thomas a bequest, his family suppressed his will and after litigation Thomas could not even cover her legal costs. During their engagement they had maintained an extensive correspondence, much of which was published in Pylades and Corinna (1731–2) and The Honourable Lovers (1732; repr. 1736).
Thomas was active and had a reputation in London and Bath literary circles. She experimented with a wide range of literary forms including lyrics
, panegyric
s, pastoral
s, polemic
s, religious meditations, and satire
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." Her work initially circulated in manuscript, but due to financial necessity she published Miscellany Poems on Several Subjects anonymously in 1722, and thereafter sought publication.
Her friend Henry Cromwell
some time earlier had given Thomas some letters he had received from Alexander Pope
which she, needing money, sold to Edmund Curll
in 1726. Curll promptly published them in Miscellanea in Two Volumes (1726), much to the irritation of Pope. For this infraction he lampooned Thomas in The Dunciad
as "Curll's Corinna" (II 66). A minor revenge was attributed to her by Pope — the publication of Codrus, or, ‘The Dunciad’ Dissected (1728) — though she was incarcerated at the time it was published. Her reputation was severely damaged by the notoriety, and she was long believed to have been Cromwell's mistress though there is no reason to believe that she was.
She continued to publish with Curll through the 1720s but was unable to meet her debts and was gaoled in the Fleet prison in 1727 for three years. Her health was never strong, and she died within a year of her release, alone and in lodgings, and was buried at St Bride's, Fleet Street.
Gentlewoman
A gentlewoman in the original and strict sense is a woman of good family, analogous to the Latin generosus and generosa...
, she was dependent on others for patronage, and she was fortunate to be part of an illustrious artistic and literary circle which included Lady Mary Chudleigh
Lady Mary Chudleigh
Mary Chudleigh was part of an intellectual circle that included Mary Astell, Elizabeth Thomas, Judith Drake, Elizabeth Elstob, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and John Norris...
, Mary Astell
Mary Astell
Mary Astell was an English feminist writer and rhetorician. Her advocacy of equal educational opportunities for women has earned her the title "the first English feminist."-Life and career:...
, Judith Drake
Judith Drake
Judith Drake 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 Thomas, Elizabeth Elstob, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and John...
, Elizabeth Elstob
Elizabeth Elstob
Elizabeth Elstob , the 'Saxon Nymph,' was born and brought up in the Quayside area of Newcastle upon Tyne, and, like Mary Astell of Newcastle, is nowadays regarded as one of the first English feminists...
, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
The Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat and writer. Montagu is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her letters from Turkey, as wife to the British ambassador, which have been described by Billie Melman as “the very first example of a secular work by a woman about...
, John Norris, and painter Sarah Hoadly, wife of Benjamin Hoadly
Benjamin Hoadly
Benjamin Hoadly was an English clergyman, who was successively Bishop of Bangor, Hereford, Salisbury, and Winchester. He is best known as the initiator of the Bangorian Controversy.-Life:...
. She sent Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
two poems not long before his death, and he responded, "your Verses were, I thought, too good to be a Woman's." He went on to compare her to Katherine Philips
Katherine Philips
Katherine Philips was an Anglo-Welsh poet.-Biography:Katherine Philips was the first Englishwoman to enjoy widespread public acclaim as a poet during her lifetime. Born in London, she was daughter of John Fowler, a Presbyterian, and a merchant of Bucklersbury, London. Philips is said to have read...
, and it was he who gave her her nome de plume, "Corinna." Her first known publication was an elegy, "To the Memory of the Truly Honoured John Dryden, Esq", published anonymously in the collection Luctus Britannici (1700).
She was engaged for sixteen years to Richard Gwinnett (1675–1717), though the couple were not in a financial position to marry until 1716, at which point Thomas postponed the marriage in order to nurse her terminally ill mother. Gwinnett died the next year, and although he left Thomas a bequest, his family suppressed his will and after litigation Thomas could not even cover her legal costs. During their engagement they had maintained an extensive correspondence, much of which was published in Pylades and Corinna (1731–2) and The Honourable Lovers (1732; repr. 1736).
Thomas was active and had a reputation in London and Bath literary circles. She experimented with a wide range of literary forms including lyrics
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
, panegyric
Panegyric
A panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...
s, pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
s, polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
s, religious meditations, and satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
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." Her work initially circulated in manuscript, but due to financial necessity she published Miscellany Poems on Several Subjects anonymously in 1722, and thereafter sought publication.
Her friend Henry Cromwell
Henry Cromwell
Henry Cromwell was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier, and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland.-Life:...
some time earlier had given Thomas some letters he had received from Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
which she, needing money, sold to Edmund Curll
Edmund Curll
Edmund Curll 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 through his publishing, and he did this by approaching book printing in a mercenary...
in 1726. Curll promptly published them in Miscellanea in Two Volumes (1726), much to the irritation of Pope. For this infraction he lampooned Thomas in The Dunciad
The Dunciad
The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. The first version was published in 1728 anonymously. The second version, the Dunciad Variorum was published anonymously in 1729. The New Dunciad, in four books and with a...
as "Curll's Corinna" (II 66). A minor revenge was attributed to her by Pope — the publication of Codrus, or, ‘The Dunciad’ Dissected (1728) — though she was incarcerated at the time it was published. Her reputation was severely damaged by the notoriety, and she was long believed to have been Cromwell's mistress though there is no reason to believe that she was.
She continued to publish with Curll through the 1720s but was unable to meet her debts and was gaoled in the Fleet prison in 1727 for three years. Her health was never strong, and she died within a year of her release, alone and in lodgings, and was buried at St Bride's, Fleet Street.
Works
- "To the Memory of the Truly Honoured John Dryden, Esq", Luctus Britannici (anon., 1700)
- Miscellany Poems on Several Subjects (anon., 1722); rpt. Poems on Several Occasions (1726)
- Codrus, or, ‘The Dunciad’ Dissected (attrib., 1728)
- Metamorphosis of the Town (anon., 1730, repr. 1731, 1732; under her own name, 1743)
- R. Gwinnett and E. Thomas, Pylades and Corinna, 2 vols. (1731–2)
- The Honourable Lovers (1732; repr. 1736)
Resources
- Blain, Virginia, et al., eds. "Thomas, Elizabeth." The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1990. 1075-1076.
- Greer, Germaine, et al., eds. "Elizabeth Thomas." Kissing the Rod: an anthology of seventeenth-century women's verse. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988. 429-438.
- 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.