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Article: Deconstructing the patriarchal palace: Ann Radcliffe's poetry in 'The Mysteries of Udolpho.'
- Article from:
- Women and Language
- Article date:
- September 22, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 George Mason University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When Ann Radcliffe is read, she is usually classified as a Gothic novelist. Her novels are famous for their intricate plots that imprison a sensitive heroine in a dark, mysterious castle guarded by a nasty villain. But Ann Radcliffe as a poet? Most modern readers skip over the 19 poems nested within the chapters of The Mysteries of Udolpho as annoying interruptions to the plot.(1) Yet these poems are vital keys to understanding the fiction. Just as the locked boxes, hidden stairways, veiled pictures and secret passageways conceal clues that lead to the heroine's self-knowledge, so the poems buried within the novel unlock multiple levels of meaning within the plot. Studying ...