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Anna Letitia Barbauld
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Standard Name: Barbauld, Anna Letitia
Birth Name: Anna Letitia Aikin
Nickname: Nancy
Married Name: Anna Letitia Barbauld
Pseudonym: A Dissenter
Pseudonym: A Volunteer
Pseudonym: Bob Short
Used Form: Mrs Barbauld
Used Form: Anna Laetitia Barbauld
ALB
, writing and publishing in the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth century, was a true woman of letters, an important poet, revered as mouthpiece or laureate for Rational Dissent. Her ground-breaking work on literary, political, social, and other intellectual topics balances her still better-known pedagogical works and writings for the very young. During her lifetime an extraordinary revolution in public opinion made her vilified as markedly as she had been revered.
Connections
| Connections | Author name Sort descending | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|
| Literary responses | Joanna Baillie | The Critical Review called this volume a work of such great and original merit, Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall. 2d ser. 37: 201 |
| Theme or Topic Treated in Text | Clara Balfour | CB
included in her collection the well-known writers Hannah More
, Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna
, Anna Letitia Barbauld
, and Sarah Trimmer
. Subjects of other sketches which also appeared separately included many of evangelical... |
| Friends, Associates | Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger | Having already praised many contemporary women writers in print, EOB
was now able to meet them. The move to London was accomplished principally through the zealous friendship of Miss Sarah Wesley
, who had already... |
| Textual Features | Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger | EOB
writes in terms of a women's tradition: for instance, she praises Barbauld
for praising Elizabeth Rowe
. She makes confident judgements and attributions (she is sure that Lady Pakington
is the real author of... |
| Friends, Associates | Mary Matilda Betham | As well as meeting at Llangollen with Lady Eleanor Butler
and Sarah Ponsonby
(who later talked with high praise of her), Betham, Ernest, editor. A House of Letters. Jarrold and Sons. 69, 70 |
| Publishing | Hannah Brand | It was printed at Norwich and sold through London publishers. The subscription list was impressive, including Anna Letitia Barbauld
, John Brand (presumably HB
's brother) of Hemingston Hall in Suffolk, who took twenty copies... |
| Textual Production | Elizabeth Carter | Anna Letitia Barbauld
first revealed that EC
wrote five paragraphs (regarded as authoritative) in a conversational debate among characters in Richardson
's Sir Charles Grandison on Man's usurpation, and woman's natural independency. Richardson, Samuel. Sir Charles Grandison. Editor Harris, Jocelyn, Oxford University Press. 3: 242 and n |
| Literary responses | Elizabeth Carter | Ann Thicknesse
dedicated to Carter the first version of her Sketches of the Lives and Writings of the Ladies of France, 1778, saying she wanted to head a work which celebrated French talent with... |
| Family and Intimate relationships | Hester Mulso Chapone | The shock was terrible to her; her long-continued grief and mourning would be thought by many people exaggerated. There were rumours that she had not been happy in her marriage. These were vigorously denied by... |
| death | Hester Mulso Chapone | Anna Letitia Barbauld
wrote her obituary for the Monthly Magazine. |
| Education | Mary Cowden Clarke | MCC
later remembered her responsibility, when very young, of escorting her two next younger brothers to their school. Clarke, Mary Cowden. My Long Life. Dodd, Mead. 10 |
| Education | Frances Power Cobbe | FPC
received lessons from her nurse Martha Jones
and from her mother
. Her reading included Sarah Trimmer
's History of the Robins, Anna Barbauld
's Lessons for Children, and poetry by Jane Taylor |
| Textual Features | Elizabeth Cobbold | This collection features poetry by women such as Anna Maria Porter
, Amelia Opie
, Lucy Aikin
, Elizabeth Carter
, Anna Letitia Barbauld
, Anne Hunter
, Mary RobinsonCharlotte Smith
, and EC
herself. |
| Textual Production | Elizabeth Cobbold | EC
read Anna Letitia Barbauld
's Eighteen Hundred and Eleven and said it was only the more dangerous on account of its poetical excellence. Feminist Companion Archive. |
| Publishing | Ann Batten Cristall | Subscribers included Anna Letitia Barbauld
and her brother
, Ann Jebb
, the future Amelia Opie
, Anna Maria Porter
, Mary Wollstonecraft
and her sister, Mary Hays
and her sister, a Mrs Spence who... |
Timeline
1793: The liberal Dissenter Benjamin Flowers launched...
Writing climate item
1793
The liberal Dissenter Benjamin Flowers
launched a periodical, the Cambridge Intelligencer; it ran until December 1800.
After 1 February 1793: An organisation calling itself the Friends...
National or international item
After 1 February 1793
An organisation calling itself the Friends of Peace
began campaigning in tracts and pamphlets against the war with France (declared on this day).
February 1796: The Monthly Magazine: or British Register,...
Writing climate item
February 1796
The Monthly Magazine: or British Register, edited by Anna Letitia Barbauld
's brother John Aikin
, began publication.
By 22 July 1797: William Beckford published a second and more...
Women writers item
By 22 July 1797
William Beckford
published a second and more marked burlesque attack on women's writing: Azemia: A Descriptive and Sentimental Novel. Interspersed with Pieces of Poetry.
1801: The Quaker Joseph Lancaster opened his non-sectarian...
Building item
1801
The QuakerJoseph Lancaster
opened his non-sectarian Free School in Borough Road in south-east London; he soon had a thousand pupils.
December 1802: The Critical Review extolled the quality...
Women writers item
December 1802
The Critical Review extolled the quality of contemporary women's poetry: Miss Seward
, Mrs Barbauld
, Charlotte Smith
, will take their place among the English poets for centuries to come.
9 September 1803: The first number appeared of the Annual Review,...
Writing climate item
9 September 1803
The first number appeared of the Annual Review, a Dissenting periodical run by Lucy Aikin
's brother Arthur Aikin
, which had been planned in 1802.
January 1806: The Monthly Repository, a Dissenting magazine,...
Writing climate item
January 1806
The Monthly Repository, a Dissenting magazine, began publication in London, edited by Robert Aspland
.
January 1807-June 1809: John Aikin (Anna Letitia Barbauld's brother)...
Writing climate item
January 1807-June 1809
John Aikin
(Anna Letitia Barbauld
's brother) ran a Dissenting periodical, The Athenæum: A Magazine of Literary and Miscellaneous Information.
6 November 1817: Princess Charlotte died at 2.30 a.m. after...
National or international item
6 November 1817
Princess Charlotte
died at 2.30 a.m. after delivering a stillborn son. Poor clinical judgement was to blame; intense national mourning and controversy followed.
Early 1818: William Hazlitt opened On the Living Poets,...
Writing climate item
Early 1818
William Hazlitt
opened On the Living Poets, the last of his Lectures on the English Poets, with a statement on gender issues.
By January 1821: Ballantyne's Novelists Library began publication;...
Writing climate item
By January 1821
Ballantyne's Novelists Library began publication; it was completed in 1824.
1868: Emily Taylor (1795-18), who is remembered...
Writing climate item
1868
Emily Taylor
(1795-18), who is remembered for books connected with her school-teaching career, published Memories of some Contemporary Poets, with Selections from their Writings, with a good representation of women among her subjects (from...
By Christmas 1869: Francis Galton, mathematician, scientist,...
Writing climate item
By Christmas 1869
Francis Galton
, mathematician, scientist, and eugenicist, published Hereditary Genius: An Enquiry into its Laws and Consequences,
Texts
Barbauld, Anna Letitia. The Religion of Nature. Printed for the Benefit of the Distressed Spital-Field Weavers, 1793.
Barbauld, Anna Letitia. The Works of Anna Letitia Barbauld. Editor Aikin, Lucy, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1825.