Anna Williams (poet) - Works

Works

  • Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, published in 1766 as a quarto edition by Thomas Davies with Johnson adding a preface and several prose and verse pieces. First advertised in 1750, there were waspish claims from Anna's friends that Johnson had not put himself out in getting it produced, though it was moderately successful and earned the author about £150.
  • A dictionary of philosophical terms probably inspired by Johnson's own Dictionary - begun in 1754 but abandoned despite Johnson's support (he wrote to Richardson the printer that ‘she understands chimistry and many other arts’).
  • Occasional verses, such as "On the Death of Sir Erasmus Philipps, Unfortunately Drowned in the River Avon".

Her Dictionary of National Biography entry states that "as a writer Williams had craft but not genius... capable effective if conventional ... verses". Miscellanies is a collection of disparate pieces, verse, prose, and dramatic fragments. Alexander Pope is an influence, as seen in this quotation:

For me, contented with a humble state
'Twas ne'er my care, or fortune, to be great.

Read more about this topic:  Anna Williams (poet)

Famous quotes containing the word works:

    I know no subject more elevating, more amazing, more ready to the poetical enthusiasm, the philosophical reflection, and the moral sentiment than the works of nature. Where can we meet such variety, such beauty, such magnificence?
    James Thomson (1700–1748)

    They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep.
    Bible: Hebrew Psalms, 107:23-4.

    Separatism of any kind promotes marginalization of those unwilling to grapple with the whole body of knowledge and creative works available to others. This is true of black students who do not want to read works by white writers, of female students of any race who do not want to read books by men, and of white students who only want to read works by white writers.
    bell hooks (b. 1955)