The Princess

Lord Alfred Tennyson's The Princess may be the first instance of feminist literature in history- the story follows the eponymous princess who renounces the world of men, and with her friends, starts a university meant exclusively for women. But when a prince who is in love with her shows up at her university disguised as a female student, her plan is threatened to be thrown off course. The Princess is equal parts comic and tragic, and, unlike many similar stories that would follow, delivers some meditations and reflections upon TRUE equality of the sexes.