The “Fellowship of Sense”: Anna Letitia Barbauld and Interspecies Community

Anna Letitia Barbauld's Insect Poetics

“…For example, Inhye Ha suggests that Barbauld's re-evaluation of the caterpillar is an example of a 'poetic meeting point', where 'a nonhuman tames a human subjectivity in profoundly ethical ways', resulting in the creation of an 'affective community in which species differences are properly addressed and respected'. 13 Ha suggests that the catalyst for a revaluation of the caterpillar is the beauty of its vivid markings and its individuality. Placing it in the context of Barbauld's double exclusion as both Dissenter and woman writer, Alice G. Den Otter reads the poem through the speaker's 'complex identification with and resistance to systems of power' as a discussion of parasites both social and biological.…”