Journal of Emily Shore

Emily Shore's journal is the unique self-representation of a prodigious young Victorian woman. From July 5, 1831, at the age of eleven, until June 24, 1839, two weeks before her death from consumption, Margaret Emily Shore recorded her reactions to the world around her. She wrote of political issues, natural history, her progress as a scholar and scientist, and the worlds of art and literature. In her brief life, this remarkable young woman also produced, but did not publish, three novels, three books of poetry, and histories of the Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans, and she published several essays on birds. Written in an authoritative voice more often associated with men of her time, her journal reveals her to be well versed in the life of an early Victorian woman.

Barbara Timm Gates is Professor of English at the University of Delaware. She is the author of Victorian Suicide: Mad Crimes and Sad Histories; Critical Essays on Charlotte Bronte; and many articles and reviews dealing with nineteenth-century literature and culture.