Poetry and Prose

More than just moralizing in the form of couplets, some poetry, Anna Barbauld in particular, garnished praise from the likes of Coleridge and Wordsworth. Barbauld, with her Poems, Hymns in Prose for Children, and Lessons for Children, achieved notoriety and influenced other women writers. Using observed knowledge from the rearing of her children, Barbauld wrote in a manner appropriate to the development and abilities of children. Her writing sought to enhance the learning of children through her use of age-gradation in the writing of her books.

Barbauld also exerted influence in the realm of education as other women writers followed her lead. Women began to market their writing through such mediums as educational text, advice literature, and conduct books. While teachers were predominantly male, the writings of such educational texts inevitably influenced the educational realm.²¹