Introspections the Poetry & Private World of Dorothea Herbert, contains the “lost” poetry of the celebrated Irish writer whose Retrospections, first published in 1929-30 more than a century after her death, continues to captivate readers. By turns amusing and melancholic, the recently recovered poems - and particularly her astonishing mock-heroic epic The Buckiad - are an important contribution to late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Irish literature.

Dorothea Herbert’s Journal Notes (1806-7) are also published here for the first time.
A continuation of her Retrospections, they reveal her increasing isolation and derangement, and her unbroken passion for John Roe. The book re-evaluates his responsibility for Dorothea’s decline; explores the literary influences on her writing, and provides interesting comparisons with the then unpublished work of her great contemporary Jane Austen. It also examines her Sensibility, her dread of Spinsterhood and contains fascinating insights into provincial Irish life and manners of the period.

Frances Finnegan (D.Phil. York) moved to Ireland in 1978, and first lectured on Dorothea Herbert in 1994. She recently retired from Waterford Institute of Technology, where she was lecturer in Social History, and spends much of her time in Venice.