Draft:Edith Darcy

Darcy was born in 1756. In 1805, she won the Seatonian Prize for her poem The Fall of Bethlehem. She was the first woman to win the award.{{cite book |title=Musae Seatonianae: a complete collection of the Cambridge prize poems, from the first institution of that premium by the Reverend Thomas Seaton, in 1750, to the year 1806. To which are added three poems, likewise written for the prize, by Mr. Bally, Mr. Scott, and Mr. Wrangham. In two volumes. |date=1808 |publisher=Printed by F Hodson for J Deighton; Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme}}{{cite book |title=Cambridge prize poems : being a complete collection of the English poems which have obtained the Chancellor's gold medal in the University of Cambridge. |date=1818 |publisher=University of Cambridge. Seatonian Prize |location=London |pages=1–129}}

Darcy's early works were primarily focused on the nature of faith and the human condition, themes she explored deeply after a personal spiritual crisis in her twenties. She was known for her intense study of theology and philosophy, often attending the lectures of prominent thinkers of her time.{{cite book |last=Richetti |first=John |title=A History of Eighteenth-Century British Literature |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |publication-place=Hoboken, NJ |date=2017-10-09 |isbn=978-1-4051-3502-3 |page=}} In 1770, she had a brief affair with poet John Langhorne.{{cite journal |last=Gevirtz |first=Karen Bloom |title=Ladies Reading and Writing: Eighteenth-Century Women Writers and the Gendering of Critical Discourse |journal=Modern Language Studies |volume=33 |issue=1/2 |year=2003 |pages=60–72 |doi=10.2307/3195308 |jstor=3195308 |issn=0047-7729}}

Her final years were marked by an increasing withdrawal from public life. After the death of her younger brother, who had served in the Royal Navy, Darcy focused more on her private writings, including a collection of essays on faith and human suffering that were published posthumously. Darcy passed away in 1820 in Essex.

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