The Romantics in Pictures

A hand-colored etching by John Horne Tooke depicting Edmund Burke being beaten by various literary figures, including Anna Laetitia Barbauld (nee Aikins). for writing in opposition to the French Revolution.  

Tooke, John Horne. Don Dismallo running the literary gantlet. London: Pubd. by Wm. Holland No. 50 Oxford Street, Dec. 1. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2004669855/&gt;.

“On the Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror” by Anna Laetitia Larkin Barbauld, she shares that the frightening images and thoughts of horror cause the same reaction in our brain as curiosity. The random things seen in horror films or stories come straight from the imagination. This is why some unsettling things spark interest rather than fright. We enjoy the sight of something new even if it is scary. Anna also brings up another interesting point on why we might decide to accept terrifying imagery. Barbauld states, “We rather choose to suffer the smart pang of a violent emotion than…

Charlotte Smith was born in 1749, and at the age of 15 was married off to Benjamin Smith. Benjamin Smith was a wealthy but irresponsible man who was, “imprisoned for debt and then ran off to France to avoid his creditors, insisting that Charlotte follow him with their nine children” (Poetry Archive). Charlotte Smith ended up leaving her husband and taking her nine children with her. In her lifetime, she produced 63 volumes, which included her Elegiac Sonnets which were written in 1783 to feed her family. The Elegiac Sonnets containing elements of the gothic included the sonnet ‘On Being…

The pages above are parts of the poem The Sorrows of Yamba or A Negro's Woman's Lamentation by English religious writer and poet, Hannah More. Published on 1795, it was regarded as one of the "most popular and frequently reprinted anti-slavery poems of its time" and historians believed it surpassed her previous work Cheap Repository Tacts. In summary, it tells the story of a woman who was abducted from her family and home in 'Afric's Golden Coast' (essentially Africa) and sold as a slave. She accepts the death of her child during the sea voyage as a…

This is a map showing the layout of the town of Clapham as it would have been during the 18 hundreds. It shows the place where the Holy Trinity Church was during this time, as well as the prominent members' homes. This was the church where the first members of the Clapham Sect Abloliton group met, and where the group was formed. These members, their beliefs on slavery, and their efforts combined with other abolitionists such as More contributed to the creation and implementation of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.