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Anna Seward’s Poem about Richard Mansergh St. George

Anna Seward wrote the “Epistle to Colonel St. George” in 1783. The same year, St. George hosted Seward at his English estate for a medieval costume party. Seward’s poem calls on St. George to embrace art, love, poetry, and socializing after his experience in war. Her line, “prize the gentler powers, that brighten languid life’s oppressive hours,” suggests that St. George could be happy in society again by letting go of his commitment to the military. She seemed to have had a critical opinion of the military.

“Epistle to Colonel St. George” in The poetical works of Anna Seward; with extracts from her literary correspondence, Vol. II
Published by James Ballantyne and Co.
1810
Paper, Ink
Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia

Anna Seward’s Poem about Richard Mansergh St. George

Anna Seward wrote the “Epistle to Colonel St. George” in 1783. The same year, St. George hosted Seward at his English estate for a medieval costume party. Seward’s poem calls on St. George to embrace art, love, poetry, and socializing after his experience in war. Her line, “prize the gentler powers, that brighten languid life’s oppressive hours,” suggests that St. George could be happy in society again by letting go of his commitment to the military. She seemed to have had a critical opinion of the military.

“Epistle to Colonel St. George” in The poetical works of Anna Seward; with extracts from her literary correspondence, Vol. II
Published by James Ballantyne and Co.
1810
Paper, Ink
Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia

Anna Seward’s Poem about Richard Mansergh St. George

Anna Seward wrote the “Epistle to Colonel St. George” in 1783. The same year, St. George hosted Seward at his English estate for a medieval costume party. Seward’s poem calls on St. George to embrace art, love, poetry, and socializing after his experience in war. Her line, “prize the gentler powers, that brighten languid life’s oppressive hours,” suggests that St. George could be happy in society again by letting go of his commitment to the military. She seemed to have had a critical opinion of the military.

“Epistle to Colonel St. George” in The poetical works of Anna Seward; with extracts from her literary correspondence, Vol. II
Published by James Ballantyne and Co.
1810
Paper, Ink
Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia