During the height of the suffragette movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, poetry played a vital—though often underappreciated—role in both articulating protest and nurturing solidarity. While much attention is given to marches, arrests, and political speeches, the era was also rich with verse: lyrical, angry, hopeful, and deeply personal. Poetry was not only a form of self-expression for women denied a public voice, but also a weapon—sharp, stirring, and defiantly beautiful.
Poetry as Protest
Suffragette poetry was often bold and unapologetic. It defied the literary norms of the time, much like the women defied societal expectations. Many poems appeared in suffragette publications like Votes for Women and The Suffragette, offering rhythmic resistance alongside news of campaigns and arrests.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an American feminist best known for The Yellow Wallpaper, used poetry to critique the constraints of domesticity. In her poem She Who Is to Come, she imagines a future woman freed from the shackles of gender roles:
“She shall be strong and free,
Nature’s own daughter—her will
As the wind, and her thought as the sea.”
Poets like Emily Wilding Davison—a militant suffragette who died at the Epsom Derby—also wrote poems reflecting spiritual conviction and political fervour. Poetry became a space where suffragettes could immortalise their beliefs and their sacrifices.
Verse from the Inside
Imprisonment was a reality for many suffragettes, and poetry written behind bars reveals the emotional and psychological costs of the struggle. In Holloway Prison, suffragettes wrote verse in notebooks, on scraps of paper, and sometimes on embroidered handkerchiefs—turning confinement into creativity.
Lady Constance Lytton, who was force-fed while in prison, wrote searing poems that expressed both pain and resilience. These verses communicated suffering that could not always be articulated in speeches or articles.
“I do not crave release,
But strength to hold my pain,
To stand and fight and never cease,
Though struggle be in vain.”
Performance and Pageantry
Many suffrage campaigns incorporated dramatic poetry readings and performance into rallies, fundraising events, and suffrage plays. These public readings brought poetry off the page and into public consciousness—often set against music, visual banners, and symbolic acts.
Cicely Hamilton, playwright and suffragist, penned verse dramas and protest songs that were performed on the streets of London. Her writing captured both the passion and humour of the movement. Poems were often included in suffragette songbooks, and recited during hunger strikes and marches—rhymed slogans of defiance.
Unsung Voices
While a few well-known figures like Sylvia Pankhurst and Christabel Pankhurst contributed to suffragette poetry, many powerful verses came from anonymous or lesser-known activists. Ordinary women wrote with extraordinary urgency—schoolteachers, seamstresses, mothers, students. Their poems documented arrests, force-feeding, police brutality, and above all, unwavering hope.
In this way, poetry during the suffragette movement served as both a historical record and a deeply personal outlet. It preserved the voices of women too often silenced by politics and patriarchy.
Suggested Reading:
- “Votes for Women: The Virago Book of Suffragette Writings” – Edited by Joyce Marlow
- “The suffragette movement : an intimate account of persons and ideals” Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst
Why it matters:
The poetry of the suffragette movement offers us more than rhythm and rhyme—it opens a window into the hearts of women who risked everything for justice. Through these verses, we don’t just read history—we feel it.
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Rachel Bakewell 