A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies

Published in 1723, A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies is based loosely on the Lettres Portugaises, published in 1669. The Lining of the Patch-Work Screen was written in 1726. Often recognized to be a blending of genre conventions including romance, bourgeois fiction, poems, hymns, odes, recipes, philosophical reflections, among others, the two works create a hybrid genre. Barker uses the metaphor of the patch-work screen to raise questions about politics, sexual politics, economics, and finance in her society. In A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies, Barker includes autobiographical information and also includes revised poems from Poetical Recreations including “Anatomy,” the poem which indicates Barker’s proficiency in medicine.