Reclaiming The Witch, An Analysis of Mary Coleridge's 1893 Poem 'The Witch'

My Omeka project is an exploration into the history of witches, their origins and how the concept has developed, and the ways this understanding has been challenged. Monsters depicted in culture tend to reflect a shared fear among a population. Our understanding of witches stem from early efforts by the European church to assert power over local leaders. Traditional pagan knowledge was considered evil by the church, and thus those educated in it inherently became evil as well. This kind of wisdom was especially associated with women, as the church being a patriarchal institution needed to control potential threats to their power. By the 19th century, Mary Elizabeth Coleridge wrote “The Witch.” This archive specifically focuses on her poem and the ways it subverts expectations of what witches are or what they may represent.