The Hypocrisy of Romanticism?

Byron and Wordsworth: romantic, prophetic, brilliant... pigs? Apparently, despite having imaginations that exploded the boundaries of human ideologies, these guys weren't as progressive as we thought. Their treatment of Felicia Hemans demonstrates their inability to transcend societal norm in terms of the role of the woman. Lord Byron, jealous of Felicia's commercial success, wrote to his publisher whom he shares with Hemans, "I do not despise Mrs. Heman- but if she knit blue stockings instead of wearing them it would be better." (Referring to the offensive term for an educated, intellecutal woman). Wordsworth similarly shared a discomfort for her bypassing of traditional female roles, evidenced at her memorial when he noted his distaste for her abandonment of household skills. Reading the introduction to Hemans' work gives us a window into the less romantic world of the Romantic era: a window in which we see that the leaders of the very movement that was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms and a celebration of the capacity for the individual to create their own system of thought could not themselves escape the societal clutches of sexism.  

Felicia Hemans: The Lone Lady in a Man's World?