Poems

1773

de Beer Ec 1773 B

London: Printed for Joseph Johnson

Poet, essayist, and educationist, Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743-1825), was a member of the eighteenth-century Bluestockings, a community of women writers and intellectuals. Barbauld shared an interest in science with her physician-brother, John, as demonstrated in her poem dedicated to Joseph Priestley, ‘The Mouse’s Petition’. This poem, written from the perspective of the mouse found in one of Dr Priestley’s traps, presents a veiled plea for social justice in an oppressive society.