Anne Clifford (1590-1676) in her life and certainly in her death has remained a key figure in the English literary imagination. William Wordsworth wrote poetry about her, Hartley Coleridge included her in his The Worthies of Yorkshire and Lancashire and Virginia Woolf modelled Orlando after her. Anne Clifford’s detailed and engaging autobiographies, her monumental building projects, the paintings she designed and commissioned, the poets she inspired, and the legends she spawned, all contribute to her place as one of the most significant figures in early modern women’s study.

One key reason for the intense interest aroused by Clifford’s work in the twentieth century was Vita Sackville-West’s edition of Anne Clifford’s early autobiography, including the year 1603 and the years

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Citation: Malay, Jessica. "Lady Anne Clifford". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 September 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=919, accessed 19 March 2024.]

919 Lady Anne Clifford 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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