Mary Barber (poet)


Mary Barber, poet, was a member of Swift's circle.

Life

Mary's parents are not known. She married Jonathan Barber, a woollen-draper in Capel Street, Dublin. Her son Rupert Barber was a crayon and miniature painter from Dublin, whose pastel portrait of Swift hangs in the National Portrait Gallery London. They had nine children, four of whom survived to adulthood. She wrote, in the preface to her Poems, that she wrote mainly in order to educate her children, but most commentators agree that she had a larger audience in view and was considerably engaged with intervening in wider social and political issues, as she did with "The Widow's Address" when she argued on behalf of the widow of an army officer. She is an example of the eighteenth-century phenomenon of the "untutored poet, or 'natural genius'": an artist of unprepossessing background who achieved the patronage of literary or aristocratic notables. Swift named her as part of his "triumfeminate," along with poet and scholar Constantia Grierson and literary critic Elizabeth Sican, and maintained that she was a preeminent poet — "the best Poetess of both Kingdoms" — though this assessment was not universally shared and she has only recently garnered much critical attention. She moved into his circle and knew Laetitia Pilkington, who later became her harshest critic, Mary Delany, and poets Thomas Tickell, and Elizabeth Rowe. Swift's patronage was a substantial support to Barber's career and her Poems on several occasions was successful. The subscription list for the volume was almost "without precedent for its resplendent length and illustrious contents, and it was moreover remarkable given Barber's otherwise pedestrian social standing as an ailing Irish housewife." There were over nine hundred subscribers including various aristocrats and a number of literary luminaries, notably Pope, Arbuthnot, Gay, Walpole, and of course Swift himself. She did not, however, achieve financial stability until at her request and in order to alleviate her financial distress, Swift gave her the English rights to his Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation. Her health declined after the publication of her Poems and subsequent writing was sparse. She did publish some verses about the gout, from which she suffered for over two decades, in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1737. She died in or around 1755.

Career

Due to the less than favorable situation of poverty Mary Barber's family appeared to be in, she did everything in her power to educate her children and often used her poetry to appeal to the generosity of others in order to obtain the most advantageous positions for her children. This is especially evident through poems like 'The Hibernian Poetess's Address and Recommendation of Her Son, to her dear Cousin Esqu; L- M of London'. Although she always said she did write poetry for the education and benefit of her children, before she reached the prestige of publishing she seems to have written letters to help others in socially disadvantaged positions.
Once Barber had decided to pursue publishing her poetry as a way of financially supporting her family, however, she clearly approached her publications differently. Being from a lower class she pursued subscription publishing. Before she was well established, it is believed, Barber forged letters from Jonathan Swift to notable royals encouraging them to support her poetic career. While it was a time that the two were supposedly not well acquainted, Swift eventually forgave Barber for her indiscretion and actually embraced supporting her in her newfound literary role by introducing her into his literary circle known as the "triumfeminate." This group was actually a trio of female writers that he mentored who assisted each other with the processing of new ideas. It included Constantia Grierson and Mrs. E. Sican, as well as Barber.
While it may seem unusual for a writer to allow her work to be drastically changed, ultimately Barber was writing as a means to financially support her family. This is what led to the pursuance of subscription publishing, despite the stigma associated with it at the time. It was common knowledge that subscription publishing was viewed more as a generous offer made by the wealthy than an interest in the works being truly produced. In an effort to preserve her image as more than a grappling beggar that seemed to grow in people's mind she took advantage of the opportunity to officially publish her own work and, thanks to subscription publishing and the aid of Swift, created her collection with a purposeful image. Swift allowed her to include a letter he wrote on her behalf, raving about her attributes saying "she seemeth to have a true poetical genius," Swift's letter of praise was quickly followed by her much more modest letter pouring with admiration for the intended audience of John, Earl of Orrery. By including poems written on behalf of others that were admired as social statements, or one's written for the benefit of her sons' educations and social up-rise, Barber is attempting to justify her need to write for money, as was often done in the time, while simultaneously reminding her audience that she writes to benefit others as well. However, her reception appears to have only been approached by others because of her association with Swift and eventually disappeared as she did when her gout issues made it harder for her to write.

Legacy

While Barber was a part of Swift's "triumfeminate", it appears her more "genteel" status as an Irish Merchant's wife seemed to harm her and apparently her peers considered their editing of her work to be a major improvement to what she had originally written. Barber seems to have faded substantially from the public eye after her illness removed her physical presence from the literary circle and there is little evidence of interest in her works afterwards. However, in the 1970s-1980s an emerging feminist movement encouraged re-appraisal of past women writers. While these scholars seem to have examined and even done their own editing of Mary Barber's work, there was apparently little interest or enthusiasm expressed by the few scholars who under-took the task. Supposedly her poetry has always been, and remains to be, viewed as average writings by a mother hoping to advance her family, and her works are unfortunately given very little literary value.

Works