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Abigail Durham

Dr. Hiewon Shin

ENGL 2320-171: British Literature II

6 June 2021

Test One Essay Question

3. Compare the writings of a female Romantic poet to the work of a male poet, discussing how

their approaches to similar subjects differ.

Women poets took a different approach to Romantic poetry than men. A lot of times,

men used a Byronic hero which is described as mad, bad, and dangerous to know. They were

inspired by Shakespeare’s tormented heroes. Women, such as Anna Letitia Barbauld, typically

did not include a Byronic hero. However, Lord Byron, or George Gordon, uses a Byronic hero in

some of his works. Unlike Lord Byron, Anna Barbauld uses her works to help with young

women’s education like in “To the Poor.” She is addressing the poor as well as the church and

the government because they had allowed for poverty to spread more widely. Barbauld uses this

poem to help the poor overcome their afflictions and complications not to expect rewards and

good outcomes, but because God shall help them from their poverty. Anna believes that it is the

Church that caused such poverty to spread because points out the differences between “the Lord

above” and the “Lords below.” She ends her poem by quoting not to, “fear the God whom priests

and kings have made.” Lord Byron was a very scandalous man. He had many affairs including

one with his half-sister. He did not really use his works to educate people, especially not women.

His use of Byronic heroes was widely known. He is even the inspiration and start of Byronic

heroes for his mistress Lady Caroline thought of him as one. In Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, it is

where it gets its first appearance. Barbauld’s writings are more of different letters to numerous
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people while Lord Byron’s writings are stories that include a tragic hero. Barbauld even

addresses things like the difference between a man and woman’s work in “Washing Day.” She

also compares poetry to the bubbles that a child is blowing. Lord Byron tends to use things that

he has done throughout his life into his work. In Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Childe Harold and

Lord Byron are alike because of their travels. Childe Harold leaves his life because he was not

content with it. This is how he gets his name of a Byronic hero. Another different between Anne

Barbauld’s and Lord Byron’s works are that Barbauld focuses more on women and how they are

seen as the weaker sex, while Lord Byron focuses on males who come from a more tragic

background, leading them to become a Byronic hero. Because of her only focusing on women,

Barbauld received a lot of criticism leading her to keep her poem “Eighteen Hundred and

Eleven” unpublished.

Word Count: 420