BARBAULD, Anna Laetitia.

£10,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Eighteen Hundred and Eleven. First edition, hailed as the most powerful condemnation of early 19th-century England by a female political commentator. In her polemic poem, Barbauld denounces the devastating impact of Britain's involvement in the Napoleonic Wars on women and the poor, critiques the government's obsession with commerce, and foresees the eclipse of Britain by America as a global power.When Barbauld published Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, the war against France was going well from a British perspective. Barbauld forgoes the resultant nationalist sentiment, preferring to criticize the effects of conflict on people at home. She condemns the prioritization of war over food supply: "The sword, not sickle, reaps the harvest now / And where the Soldier gleans the scant supply / The helpless Peasant but retires to die". The effect on women who lose their children in the war is also observed: "No son returns to press her widow'd hand". In the latter half of the poem, Barbauld turns to Britain's focus on commerce, which she considers unreliable - "thy Midas dream is o'er / The golden tide of Commerce leaves thy shore" - and a source of societal inequality: "Enfeebling Luxury and ghastly Want". Barbauld idealizes Britain as a "seat of arts" filled with "Freedom's holy flame", and celebrates London as an international city "Ungirt by walls" with "No jealous drawbridge, and no closing gate". However, she believes that the country's switch to focus on military and financial sup

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