Mary Robinson and Her Many Masks Essay -- Poet Poem Actress Essays

Mary Robinson and Her Many Masks Mary Robinson’s public image as an actress and at times transgressive female are inseparable from her identity as an author and poet. Having begun her public life as an actress, Robinson remained keenly conscious of the power of audience. She intentionally re-scripted her own past, using her lurid fame to launch her successful writing career. Written at the end of her life, The Haunted Beach represents a culmination of efforts to make a serious impact on the world of poetry. Among other daring moves, Robinson's poem effectively engages with a known poet, in its recognizable similarities to Coleridge's Rime, and makes a social commentary on a murder she witnessed. The poem’s vaguely defined relationship with audience mirrors Robinson’s own multiplicity in voice. Just as The Haunted Beach is told by an unidentified observer, ultimately Robinson’s own identity remains unknowable; at best she is a fusion of her many pseudonyms, stage characters, and ideas pres ented in her written works. Much has been written on Robinson’s complicated relationship with the public, as well as her intriguing rapport with contemporary artists such as Coleridge and Wordsworth. In considering â€Å"The Haunted Beach,† one of the last poems Robinson wrote before her death, one must pay with attention to her complex path to artist and public figure; both the poem’s conception and its reception are affected by her public persona and her artistic and social connections. Robinson crafted multiple identities as actress, author and poet, all of which play into her constantly developing poetic project. Poetry became for Robinson not only a forum for earning income and salvaging her damaged reputation, but also a form of self-expre... ....clayfox.com/ashessparks/reports/miles.html>> Feldman, Paula R, Ed. British Women Poets of the Romantic Era: An Anthology. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 1997. Griggs, Earl Leslie. â€Å"Coleridge and Mrs. Mary Robinson.† Modern Language Notes, 45 (1930): 90-95. Kramer, Lawrence. â€Å"Gender and Sexuality in the Prelude: The Question of Book Seven.† ELH 54 (Autumn 1987): 619-637. Mellor, Anne K. â€Å"Mary Robinson and the scripts of female sexuality.† In Representations of the Self from the Renaissance to Romanticism. Ed. Coleman, Patrick et al. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, England, 2000. Ockerbloom, Mary Mark, Ed. A Celebration of Women Writers. Pascoe, Judith. Romantic Theatricality: Gender, Poetry and Spectatorship. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997.