Welcome!
Welcome to Resilient Verse, a website dedicated to audio recordings of women’s poetry! The project aims to recover voices of female poets from all backgrounds and all periods of history.
This site has been designed with accessibility in mind – all poems are presented in both text and audio format and large font sizes have been used where possible. Suggestions for how to improve the site’s accessibility for all users would be very welcome.
As a starting point, poems from early modern women such as Mary Sidney Herbert and Queen Elizabeth I have been uploaded. In the age of Shakespeare, Marlowe and Milton, a tradition of women’s writing was developing alongside these canonical names. Next, the project aims to trace this tradition over broader historical, geographical and cultural boundaries. To help expand the collection, I am inviting users to suggest their favourite poems by women for addition to the site.
If you have a poem to suggest, or even want support to record your own, please do get in touch! The only limitations are:
~ It has to be published at least 100 years ago (because…copyright).
~ As long as the above rule applies, it can be from any historical period, from ancient times through to the early twentieth century.
~ It has to be written by a woman.
~ The poem can be written by any woman from anywhere – the more diversity the better!
To submit your suggestions, you can either drop a comment below or use the contact form. I’m really looking forward to seeing the poems you put forward!
Resilient Verse 
Hi Florence,
I applaud your idea for this project. Good luck!
Carmen Sylva was the pen name of Pauline Elisabeth Ottilie Luise of Wied, Queen of Romania (1843 – 1916), wife of King Carol I. Together they ruled Romania between 1866 to 1914.
Carmen Sylva was an accomplished writer and poetess and a great supporter of Romanian arts.
Here is one of her poems titled “Stürme” (Storm), dedicated to her fellow-women:
“Ye, having heart and strength to bear
Deep in the fervent-glowing soul,
Whom the fierce flames of Passion’s self
But strengthen, making firm and whole.
“Ye, having might, when tempests rage,
To lift the head, free, fearing nought,
Whom the heart-pressing weight of life
Rules with the sway of earnest thought;
“Ye, breathing only light and warmth,
Forever, like a live sun’s ray,
Till tenderly the bare black earth
Kindness and joy brings forth straightway;
“Smiling, great burdens have ye borne,
Mountains of woe, and still smile on;
Guerdonless, where no trumpets sound,
Victorious battles have ye won.
“There laurel is not, nor loud fame;
There secret tear-drops fall like dew.
O Heroes, whom no crowds proclaim,
Women, I give this book to you.”
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Thank you so much for the suggestion Patricia! I love this poem and it sounds like the writer is a really interesting woman as well. It’s definitely going on the list! X x x
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So excited to hear this, Florence 🙂 🙂 🙂
I’ll try to think of more Romanian poetesses whose work is suitable for your task.
Good luck!
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Hi Florence, what a great site! You could include Isabella Whitney, the first English woman to have her poetry published: see https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45991/will-and-testament. She’s fantastic!
Best wishes
Tracey (Hill)
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Hi Tracey! Thank you so much for commenting and for the poet suggestion. I can’t believe I’d never heard of Isabella Whitney even though she was the first published woman poet – I’ll definitely have to include her!
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brilliant idea! Jane Stevenson and Peter Davidson’s anthology, Early Modern Women Poets (Oxford) is packed with cool stuff that you might use for this
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