#sydney owenson

[creatediana]

"Myrrha's Son" - a poem written 4/08/2024

Inspired by the passage in The Wild Irish Girl (1806) by Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan:

In short, there are a thousand little fugitive graces playing around her, which are not beauty, but the cause of it; and were I to personify the word spell, she should sit for the picture.

[aliteraryprincess]

November Wrap Up

I’m not sure how November is already over, but I’m thankful. The quicker I get to my winter break the better. 

Books Read: 6

This was kind of a rough reading month despite me finishing six books. I DNFed two books and only two out of the ones I finished were actually enjoyable. My favorite was by far The Woodlanders, which was a leftover from Victober. My least favorite was The Missionary. 

The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy - 4.5 stars

On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose, 1966-1978 by Adrienne Rich - 4 stars

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey - 2.5 stars

New Women, New Novels: Feminism and Early Modernism by Ann L. Ardis - 3 stars

The Missionary: An Indian Tale by Sydney Owenson Morgan - 2 stars

The Daughters of Danaus by Mona Caird - 2.5 stars

On Tumblr:

Well, there’s not much here. Which I guess means I was kind of doing my work, otherwise there would be more lists haha.

October Wrap Up

aliteraryprincess’ 50 Books to Read in 2023

On YouTube:

And there’s a decent amount here, including my Victober wrap up, a book haul, and a list of my top nonfiction books.

October / Victober Wrap Up

November TBR - Nonfiction November and Unfinished Reads

July to October Book Haul

The End of the Year Book Tag

Currently Reading 11/21/22

My Top Nonfiction Books

December TBR

[sadbookworm]

I want some good Stewards and Land Agents

I am reading some 19th century Irish and Anglo-Irish literature and the steward or land agent being villain keeps popping up. The past few years I’ve been reading historical romance novels, which have an overpopulation of taller than average dukes and earls and the only time an agent is mentioned is when they’ve been swindling the main character’s father. I have watched Downton Abbey minimum 3 times and I like Tom Branson. However, Robert makes Tom the agent as a way to give him a job that is a step up from being a servant and keep Sybie around. So I’ve found one story where the agent a sympathetic character, but the set up for him and Sybil is “daughter of a lord and a servant,” not agent or steward as a MC. I also like Bertie Pelham for Edith on a character level, but the drama of their story steps up when he becomes a lord, not on living as an agent and a magazine owner.

I think it extremely unlikely that I’ll encounter any 19th century literature that focuses on the life of a land agent or steward, though it would be interesting to see.

In historical romance, we see lords and ladies paired, we see lords and servants paired, the very occasional young lady with stable boy / footman, fortune hunters and wealthy widows, occasionally a crime lord and lady etc. And as I said, lots and lots of dukes. But there is more to 18th and 19th century British society than servants and aristocrats, and I would like to see some middlemen in the mix. How about an ethical steward desperately trying to protect the farmers from his lord’s greedy rent raising? Maybe the lord’s family stays in their country house, and the young lordlings cause trouble. Maybe the lord and the big family isn’t one to cause trouble but are nosy and the agent just wants to spend time with the local doctor?

I see a lot of potential stories that could be dramatic and romantic without necessarily having one half of the couple being presented at court or being ridiculously rich.

Any recommendations for me? Or should I just start writing what I want to read?

[britneyshakespeare]

i have an absurdly high average rating for my reviews on goodreads but that's bc i don't use it to track what i've read or plan what i'm going to read; i just use it as an outlet to talk about a book i've just read if i really wanna share my thoughts on it. and more often than not i'd rather boost something i enjoyed in hopes that someone could find my positive review (especially when i read lesser-known works like for instance earlier in the year when i was reading john ford, or whenever i read something new from aphra behn). like when i don't really care for something i've read, i don't want to talk about it or share my thoughts on it in any way, usually. it's a very rare instance where i find something interesting and worth discussing and yet still ultimately i dislike it. so yeah i do have a 4.3/5 average rating what do you expect me to do about it?

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in Irish History | 14 April:

1661 – Birth of scientist, archaeologist, physician and MP, Sir Thomas Molyneux, in Dublin. He was the first to assert that the Giant’s Causeway was a natural phenomenon. 1859 – Death of novelist, Sydney, Lady Morgan, née Owenson. Born in Dublin, she is best known as the author of The Wild Irish Girl. 1836 – Birth of handballer, Pat Kirby, in Tuamgraney, Co Clare. 1886 – Birth of socialist…

[oupacademic]

‘A wake, as it is called among us,’ he replied, ‘is at once the season of lamentation and sorrow, and of feasting and amusement.

--Sydney Owenson, from The Wild Irish Girl

In celebration of both Women’s History Month and St. Patrick’s Day, consider reading some Irish women authors. We’ve gathered some of our favorite quotes from notable writers to get you ready and eager to read Irish women. 

Image credit: “Portrait of the Irish novelist Lady Sydney Morgan” by René Théodore Berthon, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

[catmint1]

A kitten is infinitely more amusing than half the people one is obliged to live with in the world.

Lady Morgan (Sydney Owenson, 1776-1859)

[themalhambird]

18th C literary discourse is WILD

[lady-of-the-spirit]

I've decided I like getting used copies of books just for comments like these in the margins.

(Book is The Wild Irish Girl by Sydney Owenson/Lady Morgan)

[violettesiren]

I. Whilst over each lay thou didst flatt'ringly hang,    In triumph I cried, "'Tis all mine," Unconscious 'twas thou didst inspire as I sang,    And in fact that the lay was all thine. II. Then take it—but oh! still be present the while,    When another that lay shall respire; For at least I have felt 'tis the spell of thy smile    That alone can the songstress inspire.

Fragment IX. By Sydney Owenson  

[mysticalmagicalpineapple]

Literary fiction, whether directed to the purpose of transient amusement, or adopted as an indirect medium of instruction, has always… exhibited a mirror of the times in which it is composed.

Sydney Owenson Morgan

[aliteraryprincess]

July 2024 Wrap Up

What a strange month. I (finally) finished a draft of my first dissertation chapter, which is great. I also spent most of the month without a car since my husband needed it to get to work, which really sucked. But now we have a new car!

Books Read: 8

I was participating in Jane Austen July over on YouTube, so almost all of the books I read this month were for that. My favorite new read was The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst, which was just released this month. Absolutely fantastic! And I enjoyed rereading Pride and Prejudice, of course. There was no least favorite of the month. Everything was quite book. Books marked with ® are rereads.

Volume the Second by Jane Austen - 4 stars

Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby - 4 stars

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - 5 stars ®

Needful Things by Stephen King - 5 stars

The Wild Irish Girl by Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan - 3 stars

Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin - 4 stars

Unequal Affections by Lara S. Ormiston - 3.5 stars

The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden - 5 stars

On Tumblr:

There is really not much here...

June 2024 Wrap Up

Book Quotes: The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden

Tagged: Movie Vibes Poll

On YouTube:

But there is here! Including some special Jane Austen July videos.

June Wrap Up | 9 books for the Historical Fiction Readathon & more!

April to June Book Haul

Currently Reading 7/8/24 | #janeaustenjuly edition

My Jane Austen Collection | #janeaustenjuly

Rereading Pride and Prejudice as an Adult | #janeaustenjuly

August TBR/Pile of Possibilities | Continuing to clear the TBR

[marquisdelaughingette]

Sydney, Lady Morgan (née Owenson; 25 December 1781? – 14 April 1859), portrait by by René Théodore Berthon Lady Morgan was an Irish author and close friend of Lafayette - she and her husband were invited to stay at La Grange when she arrived in 1816 to research a book about post-Napoleonic France, and their friendship continued up to Lafayette’s death. They had shared liberal political views, and he helped facilitate French social and literary connections for her. She, in turn, idealised him as a leading figure in the liberal movement, characterising him as “a great and good man”. She noted that he was very conversant with English literature, and of visiting with him at La Grange, she wrote:  “To have lived under the roof of La Fayette; to have conversed with him, and listened to him, was opening a splendid page in the history of man.” He encouraged her literary work and supported her in the face of criticism of the political elements to her writing. He also offered practical assistance in translating it into French. When the first edition of her book France suppressed certain political elements in the French translation, Lafayette located a new translator, Madame de Bignon, and circulated the original uncensored English text in his large circle of friends. 

[britneyshakespeare]

“Fancy” by Sydney Owenson, 1807, republished in Romantic-Era Irish Women Poets in English (2021) edited by Stephen Behrendt and released by Cork University Press

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in Irish History | 14 April:

#OTD in Irish History | 14 April:

1661 – Birth of scientist, archaeologist, physician and MP, Sir Thomas Molyneux, in Dublin. He was the first to assert that the Giant’s Causeway was a natural phenomenon. 1859 – Death of novelist, Sydney, Lady Morgan, née Owenson. Born in Dublin, she is best known as the author of The Wild Irish Girl. 1836 – Birth of handballer, Pat Kirby, in Tuamgraney, Co Clare. 1886 – Birth of socialist…

[met-european-sculpture]

Sydney Lady Morgan (née Owenson), Irish novelist (1777–1859) by Pierre Jean David d'Angers, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Medium: Bronze, cast - single

Gift of Samuel P. Avery, 1898 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/188440