The Buckley School's founder believed all public speakers should hone their presentation skills by reading poetry out loud. We keep that worthwhile practice alive by including a poem in our magazine each month for you to read aloud.
The English romantic poet Anna Seward exhibited a head for poetry at an early age, reciting the works of Milton by age three and showing a flair for writing as early as age seven. Seward benefited from her father's views on education women, which were progressive for the mid 1700s.
As a child and as an adult, Seward was surrounded by some of the era's leading thinkers and writers, among them Samuel Johnson and Sir Walter Scott.
Though Seward was seriously producing poetry as early as 1759 (when she was 17), her first poems were not published until 1780, when she was 38 years old.
Seward was also known for her wide knowledge of English literature and had a keen interest in botany and knew prominent scientists of the time. She wrote a biography: Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Darwin.
Following her death in 1809, Sir Walter Scott edited her poetry, which was published in three volumes. Seward was rediscovered in the 21st century as scholars found her to be valuable source for views on feminism, gender, and relationships in the 18th century.
Below, some lines for you to read aloud from the woman often called the Swan of Lichfield.
Sonnet XV. Written On Rising Ground Near Lichfield.
by ANNA SEWARD
The evening shines in May's luxuriant pride,
And all the sunny hills at distance glow,
And all the brooks, that thro' the valley flow,
Seem liquid gold. - O! had my fate denied
Leisure, and power to taste the sweets that glide
Thro' waken'd minds, as the soft seasons go
On their still varying progress, for the woe
My heart has felt, what balm had been supplied?
But where great NATURE smiles, as here she smiles,
'Mid verdant vales, and gently swelling hills,
And glassy lakes, and mazy, murmuring rills,
And narrow wood-wild lanes, her spell beguiles
Th' impatient sighs of Grief, and reconciles
Poetic Minds to Life, with all her ills.
