Reading Notes W6: Barbauld, Part B

Today's readings come from literary figure, Anna Laetitia Barbauld. She is the female poet behind writings such as "To a Little Invisible Being Who Is Expected Soon to Become Visible" and "Eighteen Hundred and Eleven". These are the two poems provided in The Norton Anthology of World Literature Volume E. In these poems she discusses many issues that were a constant theme throughout her literary career. These themes consist of combating war, slavery and being an advocate for animal rights. As the text displays in the following not only was she an advocate for such themes but also would proudly display her defiance in debates: "she entered bravely into public debates that were traditionally the province of male writers, urging her readers to live up to the highest principles of morality and citizenship" (326). The poem that these notes will be focusing on is "To A Little Invisible Being Who Is Expected Soon to Become Visible". This poem features themes of individuality, pregnancy and motherhood.

• "Barbauld reflects on the baffling problem of individuality in pregnancy. . . Is the child the same as the mother or different? In the poem, the mother eagerly awaits the arrival of a complex being _ a"stranger guest," "Part of herself, yet to herself unknown." (326) These sections of the historical context reading quickly points of the overriding themes of the poem.
• "What powers lie folded in thy curious frame, --/Senses from objects locked, and mind from thought!" (5-6, 327). These lines from the power easily reflect the theme, with the narrator pondering just who her child is and will become. The intrigue of meeting a "new Stranger". Someone can be distinctly different, yet completely "yours" as a parent
• "Haste, little captive, burst thy prison doors!/Launch on the living world, and spring to light!/Nature for thee displays her various stores, Opens her thousand inlets of delight" (25-28, 327). This section encapsulates the excitement of the birth of a child, covering both excitement from physically seeing a child and then the wonders of getting to know/learning from this developing person.