The Mouses Petition,At a time in history when female published writers were very rare, Anna Laetitia Barbauld stood out with her English Romantic style of writing poetry. She also produced a number of essays, including works on political subjects, and was a noted children’s author.
She was certainly outspoken, even into her late sixties, and she fell foul of a literary society when she published a poem called Eighteen Hundred and Eleven which, at the time of the Napoleonic wars, was derided as unpatriotic. She basically saw England as a post-war ruin and she protested vehemently about the British involvement in the war. The reviews of this poem were so vicious that she decided to lay down her pen for the rest of her life.
The Mouses Petition by Anna Laetitia Barbauld
OH ! hear a pensive captive’s prayer,
For liberty that sighs;
And never let thine heart be shut
Against the prisoner’s cries.
For liberty that sighs;
And never let thine heart be shut
Against the prisoner’s cries.
For here forlorn and sad I sit,
Within the wiry grate;
And tremble at th’ approaching morn,
Which brings impending fate.
Within the wiry grate;
And tremble at th’ approaching morn,
Which brings impending fate.
If e’er thy bre
ast with freedom glow’d,
And spurn’d a tyrant’s chain,
Let not thy strong oppressive force
A free-born mouse detain.
And spurn’d a tyrant’s chain,
Let not thy strong oppressive force
A free-born mouse detain.
Oh ! do not stain with guiltless blood
Thy hospitable hearth;
Nor triumph that thy wiles betray’d
A prize so little worth.
Thy hospitable hearth;
Nor triumph that thy wiles betray’d
A prize so little worth.
The scatter’d gleanings of a feast
My scanty meals supply;
But if thine unrelenting heart
That slender boon deny,
My scanty meals supply;
But if thine unrelenting heart
That slender boon deny,
The chearful light, the vital air,
Are blessings widely given;
Let nature’s commoners enjoy
The common gifts of heaven.
Are blessings widely given;
Let nature’s commoners enjoy
The common gifts of heaven.
The well taught philosophic mind
To all compassion gives;
Casts round the world an equal eye,
And feels for all that lives.
To all compassion gives;
Casts round the world an equal eye,
And feels for all that lives.
If mind, as ancient sages taught,
A never dying flame,
Still shifts thro’ matter’s varying forms,
In every form the same,
A never dying flame,
Still shifts thro’ matter’s varying forms,
In every form the same,
Beware, lest in the worm you crush
A brother’s soul you find;
And tremble lest thy luckless hand
Dislodge a kindred mind.
A brother’s soul you find;
And tremble lest thy luckless hand
Dislodge a kindred mind.
Or, if this transient gleam of day
Be all of life we share,
Let pity plead within thy breast,
That little all to spare.So may thy hospitable board
With health and peace be crown’d;
And every charm of heartfelt ease
Beneath thy roof be found.So when unseen destruction lurks,
Which men like mice may share,
May some kind angel clear thy path
Be all of life we share,
Let pity plead within thy breast,
That little all to spare.So may thy hospitable board
With health and peace be crown’d;
And every charm of heartfelt ease
Beneath thy roof be found.So when unseen destruction lurks,
Which men like mice may share,
May some kind angel clear thy path
