DEVOTIONAL DISCOURSE AND FEMALE AUTHORSHIP: FROM THE STEELE CIRCLE TO MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT

The article brings into discussion the case of a few exceptional women who wrote,published, and became popular in the Age of Reason as poets, critics, and activists. Theywere considered as Nonconformist because they belonged to the Baptist or UnitarianChurch and did not follow the mainstream Church of England views. On the other hand,the end of the eighteenth century witnessed the rise of Romantic aesthetics and of a numberof nature poets. The questions this article attempts to answer refer both to the influence ofthe Biblical discourse on a group of women’s literary and non-literary productions and tothe way in which the emerging Romantic aesthetics also impacted their work. How diddevotional poetry go along Romantic principles and feminist views? Anne Steele’s andMary Steele’s poetry, Mary Scott’s and Mary Wollstonecraft’s feminist agenda will behighlighted in the analysis.