ABSTRACT
Anna Barbauld is one of the Romantic era’s most telling examples of the liberal woman writer as anti-slavery advocate. Barbauld (1743–1825) was prominent as a poet, essayist, social reformer, educator, and writer for children. In fact, she helped invent the modern children’s book in Lessons for Children (1778–88), Hymns in Prose for Children (1781), and (with her brother, John Aikin) Evenings at Home; or, The Juvenile Budget Opened (1792–6). Barbauld’s father (also John Aikin) had been an esteemed tutor at the celebrated dissenting academy at Warrington and, with the aid of her father and brother, Barbauld pursued an education such as few contemporary women could enjoy. She published both her first volume of poetry and (with her brother) a volume of essays in 1773. After marrying the clergyman Rochemont Barbauld in 1774, she became a notable educator herself, virtually running their boys’ school at Palgrave.
