Seward, Anna, 1742-1809

English poet.

From the description of Conclusion of an autograph letter signed with postscript : Lichfield, to Robert Fellowes, [1804] Feb. 16. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270664731

Anna Seward was born in Eyam, Derbyshire, and resided in Lichfield, England from age thirteen until her death. In addition to her career as a poet, she carried on a voluminous correspondence with many literary figures.

From the description of Papers, 1781-1807. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 85213363

Anna Seward (1742-1809) was born in Eyam, Derbyshire, and resided in Lichfield, England from age thirteen until her death. In addition to her career as a poet, she carried on a voluminous correspondence with many literary figures. Known as "The Swan of Lichfield," she had an uneasy relationship with her town's other famous literary figure, Samuel Johnson.

From the guide to the Papers, 1781-1807., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)

Anna Seward (1742-1809), often referred to as the "Swan of Lichfield," earned acclaim as a poetess and writer in late-18th-century Great Britain. The daughter of an Anglican minister, Thomas Seward (1708-1790), she grew up in Lichfield, England. Under her father's guidance, she read widely in English literature, and his own literary pursuits brought her into the company of many famous authors of the day, including Erasmus Darwin, Thomas Day, and Richard Lovell Edgeworth. Seward never married and spent most of her adult life in Lichfield, caring for her ailing parent and managing family finances as well as writing extensively and corresponding broadly in poetry and prose. Her major works include Elegy on Captain Cook (1780), Monody on Major André (1781), Louisa: a Poetical Novel, in Four Epistles (1784), Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Darwin (1804), and several volumes of verse.

From the guide to the Anna Seward Poems, Seward, Anna Poems., 1781-[1793], (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)

Anne, or Anna Seward (1742-1809), the 'Swan of Lichfield', poet and letter writer, was born in Eyam, Derbyshire. She was the only surviving child of Rev Thomas S. Hunter (also a poet and Canon of Lichfield from 1754) and his wife, Elizabeth (ne Hunter). In 1780, she drew public notice with elegiac poems on David Garrick and Captain Cook and these were followed by a poem in 1781 about Major Andre (a former suitor of Honora Sneyd who subsequently married Maria Edgeworth's father) and another one in 1782 about Anne Miller. Other publications included her verse novel Louisa (1784), a poem on her friends the Ladies of Llangollen in 1796, her sonnets in 1799, and Memoirs of Erasmus Darwin in 1804. The Gentleman's Magazine also published her versions of Horace's Odes and controversial letters - published under the pseudonym Benvolio, 1786-87 and then under her own name. She had extensive literary friendships who included Erasmus Darwin and Thomas Day. She left her literary manuscripts to Sir Walter Scott who edited her collected works which were published in three volumes with a memoir in 1810

Reference: Aristocratic Women: the social, political and cultural history of rich and powerful women. A Listing and Guide to Part 2 of the Microfilm Collection (Adam Matthew Publications, 1998).

From the guide to the Anna Seward Letters, 1764-1804, (University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department)