Patronal Care and Maternal Feeling: New Correspondence between Ann Yearsley and Hannah More

Andrews, Kerri

doi:10.3366/e1354991x10000863

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“…Recounting her reaction to the news that her earnings from Poems, on Several Occasions were to be placed in trust, Yearsley wrote: I felt as a mother deemed unworthy the tuition or care of her family; and imagined my conduct and principles must of necessity be falsely represented to a generous public, in order to justify the present measure.-Even the interest was not allowed me, but on the capricious terms, that she [More] should lay it out as she thought proper; without any condition in the deed whereby my children might have an undeniable claim in future. 15 As I have argued elsewhere, More's behaviour here is understood by Yearsley as an usurpation of her maternal role and her maternal rights 16 ; in an earlier, private letter to More, Yearsley had forcefully argued, "the right was mine to Educate and set them in life as their dispositions may in future determine . .…”

Section: Ii: the Bristol Milkwoman And The London Newspapersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An abrupt apostrophe to the sympathetic reader, however, suddenly changes the poem from the individuated or personal to the universal: Ye, whose imaginations fondly rove O'er future pleasure in its richest dress, Ye who avow that soft parental love, Whose pleasing cares were ever meant to bless, Ye sure will own it nature's truest joy, When absence long hath your fond bosoms torn, Ardent to hold the infant girl, or boy, Whose flutt'ring heart shall hail your wish'd return. (lines [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] This apostrophe invites readers to sympathize with the speaker, to feel as she does in thinking of their own children as being at the cause of "nature's truest joy." This invitation serves to do (at least) two things, I would suggest.…”

Section: Ii: the Bristol Milkwoman And The London Newspapersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ann Yearsley and the London Newspapers in 1787

Andrews¹

2015

tsw

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In 1787, after the bitter, public break with her patron Hannah More, Ann Yearsley not only published her second volume of verse, Poems, on Various Subjects, but also published four poems in newspapers. This article argues that Yearsley's choice to simultaneously publish in two mediums, as well as her decisions regarding the subjects of the poems she published in the newspapers, was calculated to answer claims that her literary success was due to More's editing, rather than Yearsley's own talents.. To recover her poetic reputation, Yearsley turned to the periodical press, whose rapid publication and ephemeral existence precluded editorial interference. The article also argues that newspapers provided Yearsley with the opportunity to display her talents to a larger audience than she would with her published volume. The subjects of her newspaper poems were also designed to prove that she was a poet of national relevance, that she had made new literary connections, and that her argument with More was partly precipitated by her maternal concern for her children's financial future. The poems demonstrated her versatility, as well as maintained continuity with her previous work, as part of a well-managed effort to restore her reputation as a poet of genuine and substantial talent.In the summer of 1787, Ann Yearsley was preparing to publish her second volume of verse, Poems, on Various Subjects. It was to be her first new publication since the very publicand extremely bitter-breakdown of her patronage relationship with Hannah More. In this new volume, Yearsley would include her defence against the charges of ingratitude and poor behavior levelled at her, as well as a copy of the deed of trust over which Yearsley and More had quarrelled in 1785 with such unfortunate consequences. Poems, on Various Subjects would prove

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Section: Ii: the Bristol Milkwoman And The London Newspapersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ii: the Bristol Milkwoman And The London Newspapersmentioning

confidence: 99%