Hannah Cowley

The Runaway (Dodo Press) Hannah Cowley

Hannah Cowley, nee Parkhouse (1743-1809) was an English dramatist and poet. Cowley's plays were produced frequently during her lifetime. The major themes of her plays; including her first, The Runaway (1776), and her major hit, The Belle's Stratagem (1780); revolve around marriage and how women strive to overcome the injustices imposed by family life and social custom. She had a less-distinguished career as a poet, writing The Scottish Village; or, Pitcairne Green in 1786, and The Siege of Acre in 1801. In the summer of 1787, under the nom de plume "Anna Matilda, " she and poet Robert Merry (writing under the name "Della Crusca") began a poetic correspondence in the pages of the journal The World. Their poems were sentimental and flirtatious. At first the two did not even know the others' identity; later they met and became part of a poetic movement called the Della Cruscans. Her other works include: Who's the Dupe? (1779), Albina (1779) and A Bold Stroke for a Husband (1783).