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Christabella Rogers

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Christabella Rogers (1618? – ?) was a 17th-century English poet and author of an untitled song addressed to Cupid.[1]

Biography

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Records indicate the christening of a "Christobel Rogers" in Shropshire, England, in the year 1618.[2] That this Rogers is the poet Rogers is not certain, however. Other than this, very little is known about Rogers. As Alison Shell[who?] states in Early Modern Women’s Manuscript Writing: "Christobella Rogers and Alice Fennel [her cousin], remain for the moment as obscure as most early modern women."[3]

Shell identifies Rogers and her cousin Fennel as part of a writers' circle centring on the Feilding family, "one of the most prominent aristocratic dynasties in seventeenth-century England".[This quote needs a citation] In a letter addressed to "Lady" Christabella Rogers, a "Frances Feilding" (herself an ambiguous figure) praises Rogers’ skill, writing, "then talke not of ben jonson skill / nor yet of homers soaring quill". This letter not only tells us that Rogers was a member of the aristocracy ("Lady") but also suggests a greater body of work than the meagre writings we have today. Indeed, though very little of her work survives today, Rogers was apparently author of "substantial quantities of verse."[4] With what little knowledge we have, then, we can place Rogers in an aristocratic literary community in the mid-seventeenth century.

References

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  1. ^ "L.b.707 Rogers, Christabella. Song, beginning 'Cupid away for I defy / the power of all thy tiranny'. ca. 1660? – Papers of the More family of Loseley Park, Surrey, 1489–1682 (bulk 1538–1630)". Folger Shakespeare Library. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  2. ^ "FamilySearch.org - Search". FamilySearch. Retrieved 3 May 2008.[Link to precise page]
  3. ^ Burke, Victoria E. and Jonathan Gibson (259)[full citation needed]
  4. ^ Stevenson, Jane and Peter Davidson, ed. Early Modern Women Poets (1520–1700): An Anthology. Oxford University Press. 2001.
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