Nineteenth-century poet and playwright Felicia Hemans blends bold, at times nationalist, heroism with meek humility in both her fictional and historic characters. She portrays this mixture in diverse forms, from the dissenting Protestant figures of exile and imprisonment in her poems “The Forest Sanctuary” (The Forest Sanctuary and Other Poems, 1825) and “The Prisoners’ Evening Service” (Scenes and Hymns of Life, with Other Religious Poems, 1834), to the devoutly Catholic heroine of her poem “Joan of Arc, in Rheims” (Records of Woman, 1828). Though Hemans saw The Forest Sanctuary as her most artistically successful work, Records of Woman was by far

This article in full comprises 1595 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

First published 09 October 2006

[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5117, accessed 20 November 2009.]