Irish Women Poets Rediscovered

Here are 17 women poets you may not have heard of....

As writers we depend on memory. Through Irish Women Poets Rediscovered we learn what informed poets in 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, to the present. These poets range from those born in Ireland or who made their home here.

One of these poets whom I have come to know more intimately is Dorothea Herbert (c.1767-1829). Dorothea lived in County Tipperary. Her father was a Herbert from Muckross House, Killarney and her mother Martha Cuffe was the daughter of the first Lord Desart of Kilkenny. Her aunt Helena (Hedge Eyre) lived at Macroom Castle in County Cork a few miles from where I now live. Researching the life and writing of Dorothea was a valuable experience and I am happy to be able to bring her work to a wider audience through my essay. Virginia Woolf enjoyed Dorothea's writing and maybe it inspired her own.

As with many other writers Dorothea’s work (memoir and poetry) was published posthumously. If you would like to read more about Dorothea and the 16 other poets from the 18th to the 20th centuries Irish Women Poets Rediscovered, edited by Maria Johnston and Conor Linnie, is available from Cork University Press. This publisher is a great supporter of subjects of Irish interest and has a solid history of publishing writing by women. 

To hear more about Dorothea Herbert (c.1767-1829), Florence Mary Wilson (1874-1946), and Angela Greene (1936-1997), listen back to Sublimer Wishes on Lyric FM at 6pm on Sunday 6th March 2022 produced by Claire Cunningham, Rockfinch Production:


Sublimer Series 28th Nov 2021 on Olivia Elder, Catherine O'Neill and Madge Herron

Lyric Feature, Sun 5th Sept 2021 on Ethna MacCarthy (1903-59), physician, writer, and poet.