„In Sachen der Poesie“. Betty Paoli (1814–1894) denkt über ihre Rolle als Dichterin nach

This article examines the life, work, and self-conception of the Austrian poet and journalist Betty Paoli (1814–1894) within the literary field of the nineteenth century. It focuses on how Paoli, as a middle-class woman, developed and successfully claimed an independent position as a poet. Drawing on selected poems, poetological texts, and journalistic writings, the study demonstrates how Paoli navigated between contemporary gender roles, the ideal of the artist, and bourgeois expectations. Paoli consciously aligned herself with male-dominated traditions of poetical self-reflection while simultaneously integrating female experience. She employed pain, renunciation, and individual self-reflection as key poetic driving forces. In addition, the article highlights her role as a critic, mediator, and advocate for other authors, particularly Annette von Droste-Hülshoff and Franz Grillparzer. Paoli emerges as a highly reflective participant in processes of literary canon formation who understood poetry as both an individual and a universal mode of expression and whose work exerted a lasting influence on literary and cultural history.