Current PhD Students

Charlotte Newcombe 

Thesis Title: Formal Forces: Mid-Seventeenth Century Women’s Poetry and Natural Philosophy

Supervisor(s): Prof Kevin Killeen & Dr Namratha Rao

Description: 

My doctoral research explores how women writers used natural philosophical theories of matter to conceive of poetic form and used poetic form as an extension of their philosophical enquiry. My thesis is particularly focused on the poetry of Margaret Cavendish, Lucy Hutchinson, Hester Pulter and Anne Bradstreet. Their poetic-scientific language was carefully crafted in brilliant, and in some cases, recently discovered poetry. My project builds on recent work which was brought natural philosophy, poetic form and women’s writing into productive conversation. By acknowledging these women’s formal-philosophical innovation, I argue that we can advance our understanding of the sites and processes of scientific inquiry in this period and better grasp the complex interactions between women and intellectual culture.

My wider research interests include women’s writing; the intersection of literature and intellectual culture in the early modern period; poetry and poetics; and natural philosophy. 

I received both my BA in English and Related Literature and my MA in Renaissance Literature 1500-1700 from the University of York. I began my PhD at the University of York in 2021 and this research is funded by the AHRC through the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH).