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 cannot spare water or wine, Tobacco-leaf, or poppy, or rose;
From the earth-poles to the line, All between that works or grows,
Every thing is kin of mine.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“All his works might well enough be embraced under the title of one of them, a good specimen brick, “On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History.” Of this department he is the Chief Professor in the World’s University, and even leaves Plutarch behind.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The man who builds a factory builds a temple, that the man who works there worships there, and to each is due, not scorn and blame, but reverence and praise.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)