Christabella Rogers (1618? – ?) was a 17th-century English poet and author of an untitled song addressed to Cupid.
Biography
Records indicate the christening of a "Christobel Rogers" in Shropshire, England, in the year 1618. That this Rogers is the poet Rogers is not certain, however. Other than this, very little is known about Rogers. As Alison Shell states in Early Modern Women’s Manuscript Writing: "Christobella Rogers and Alice Fennel , remain for the moment as obscure as most early modern women."
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". 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." With what little knowledge we have, then, we can place Rogers in an aristocratic literary community in the mid-seventeenth century.
References
- "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.
- "FamilySearch.org - Search". FamilySearch. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
- Burke, Victoria E. and Jonathan Gibson (259)
- Stevenson, Jane and Peter Davidson, ed. Early Modern Women Poets (1520–1700): An Anthology. Oxford University Press. 2001.