SOURCE: "'Domestic Affections' and 'the spear of Minerva': Felicia Hemans and the Dilemma of Gender," in Re-Visioning Romanticism: British Women Writers, 1776–1837, edited by Carol Shiner Wilson and Joel Haefner, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994, pp. 128–66.

In the following essay, Wolfson contends that contradictions in Hemans's poetry stemmed from the fundamental conflict between the ideals of her verse—domestic serenity and feminine status quo—and the facts of her life, which required her to carry out the more traditionally masculine work of supporting her family and building a public reputation.

I. Discriminations of Gender

Back in the days of schoolroom and parlor recitations, Hemans's "Casabianca" ("The boy stood on the burning deck") enjoyed a regular place; another poem, "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers" ("The breaking waves dashed high / On a stern and rockbound coast"), became a beloved hymn, and "The Stately Homes of England," an anthology standard—their popularity...