Anna Seward: The Swan of Lichfield

Visitors to Lichfield’s Market Square may have noticed some additions to the postbox on Conduit Street during February. Featuring lines from some of her best-known poems, the box has been dedicated to Lichfield poet Anna Seward by Royal Mail. In today’s post, Andrew Bramwell, an MA Student at Keele University, tells us a little more about Anna, her life, and her work. 

She was tall, elegant, with a striking head of auburn hair and a confident manner that drew admirers into a circle of literary friends. Contemporary figures described her expressive countenance, a melodious voice, confidence.  Self-assured if sometimes outspoken and unconventional in manner she could not be ignored. Respected for her writing and family background. It is unclear who first attributed the name ‘Swan of Lichfield’ to her but it held and for a time she was the most well- known poetess in England.

Born in Derbyshire in 1742 she moved to Lichfield at the age of seven and lived the rest of her life in the Bishops Palace, where her father was a Canon in the Cathedral. While from a relatively affluent background and supported by a father who had a liberal attitude towards women’s education, she still suffered the pain of bereavement at a time when life expectancy was low and infant mortality high. Anna lost five siblings in infancy and her surviving sister at the age of nineteen. As a result, her father adopted Honora Sneyd, the orphaned daughter of a friend.

Her relationship with Honora developed into a close friendship with many of her poems such as ‘Visions’ and ‘To Honora Sneyd’ gaining inspiration from their closeness. When Honora married, Anna was grief-stricken and there was a deep estrangement between them as a result.

Anna herself never married and was known for her outspoken views on marriage as an institution. In recent years this has led her to be seen as an early feminist.

It is often thought she lived a quiet and retiring life and while it is true, she took on many household responsibilities on the death of her mother and there was a vibrant cultural and social scene in the city. There were plays, poetry readings and balls. In addition, Anna became the centre of a literary circle consisting of among others the Lichfield poet Thomas Day (from whom she turned down a proposal of marriage) and Erasmus Darwin, who first encouraged her to write poetry. Anna and Erasmus were friends for many years and when he died, she wrote ‘The Memoires of Dr Darwin’ as a tribute to him. Anna was also a member of the famous ‘Lunar Society’ which met in Birmingham and occasionally at the Bishops Palace.

There was, of course, regular correspondence with major literary figures of the day, including Walter Scott, Robert Southey, James Boswell, Thomas Wharton (poet laureate) and Lichfield’s most famous son, Samuel Johnson. Her relationship with Johnson was turbulent, to say the least. It was said that she disliked him and that he feared her!

Anna began writing poetry at an early age, very often on romantic themes and sometimes criticised for being too sentimental. She produced a number of elegies and sonnets, of which ‘Llangollen Vale’ and ‘Elegy to Captain Cook’ spring to mind. ‘To Colebrooke Dale’ is an interesting example of her displeasure at the intrusion of the industrial revolution on the natural landscape. Alongside poetry, she also wrote a political novel, ‘Louisa’.

After a long absence, interest in the life and work of Anna Seward is beginning to gain more prominence. Perhaps her best epitaph is the pride she felt in being a citizen of Lichfield, a city with which in her eyes nothing could compare.

She died in 1809 and is laid to rest beneath the choir stalls of Lichfield Cathedral. There is a memorial situated there, inscribed with some lines from the work of Walter Scott.

Contributor: Andrew Bramwell is a former primary school headteacher, now studying for an MA in English Literatures at Keele University.

Photo Credits: Jonathan Oates (https://www.jonotourism.co.uk)