. Yeates Plath & Frost
. Solicitors at Law
. Dean's Court
. Manchester
. England
Dear Sir,
We are requested to send this letter to you unopened upon the instructions of Mrs Anna Laetitia Barbauld (nee Aikin) as expressed in the last will and testament of the aforesaid lady. We would be grateful for your acknowledgement of receipt of said letter.
. Your most humble and obedient servant
. Jonathan Frost LLB
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. The Manse
. Palfrey
. England
Reverend Sir,
Please forgive this most unusual letter from one who has not yet received a formal introduction to your good self. As far as I am aware we have not the good fortune to share a mutual acquaintance but I feel that non such is needed in the circumstances currently existing. I am sure as you peruse its contents you will appreciate the reasons why I am communicating in this most unorthodox and presumptuous fashion.
On Christmas Day 1784 my husband and I were celebrating the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. My husband Rochemont, like yourself, is a gentleman of the cloth and is fully in accord with my communicating with you in this unprecedented manner. The events of that, and subsequent days are engraved within my weak and womanly mind in such a way as to not allow their expulsion.
Having attended evensong on that, never to be forgotten day we returned to our place of residence in Palgrave and were partaking of a pre-prandial libation when a swoon came upon me. I was granted a vision that night and on each of the succeeding nights in the manner of that Pharaoh of old who was served by Joseph. These visions were of a most unusual kind and are forever enshrined in my remembrances.
I was attending a conformation service welcoming a new minister into the service of the Almighty. It was born in upon me by some means I know not what, that these events were taking place in our New England colonies at a time 100 years in advance.
The priest being then admitted into Holy Orders was no newly weaned youngster but a man of mature years being close to his fortieth year. He had the bearing of a military man though he was obviously a teacher. As an educator myself, I felt like crying out to like. I sensed a life of hardship and confinement but not any criminality. A taste for music and fine words was evident in his manner of speech which though obviously colonial nevertheless spoke of a goodly heritage.
I recognised in this apparition a kindred soul. An enquiring yet poetic mind. A desire to inculcate such learning and feeling in the minds of the young and a submission to the will of Our Lord. How I knew all this I cannot in truth tell for upon reviving I could remember no words having been spoken and yet my mind was infused with these amazing facts. Yet, despite this unusual clarity, I would have dismissed the incident from my mind had it not recurred daily from that night until Twelfth Night. This agonising daily renewal caused great concern in the heart of my poor husband and he and I prayed assiduously for enlightenment. Alas to no avail as the daily repetition was in all respects the same except for the gradual awareness of a name Tabb.
Consultations between myself and several learned gentleman have failed to bestow any further understanding of the meaning behind these occurrences but I was convinced by my great good friend, the noted scientific gentleman, Mister Joseph Priestley that I might ease my mind by a recording of these happenings for comparison with events at the actual time at which I believe they took place.
I have instructed my solicitors to take all possible steps to locate a new member of the clergy, dwelling in our colonies at the, to me, future date of 1884 by the name of Tabb.
If you are reading this they will have succeeded and I am sure I will rest more easily in my grave for there I most undoubtedly must be.
How you deal with these facts I leave to you and your confessor.
. Your most respectful correspondent.
. Anna Laetitia Barbauld (Mrs)
Author notes
The premise of this competition is a letter that is sent between one poet (chosen at random by me upon joining the competition) and one of two poets dependent upon the random choices of the competitor immediately ahead and behind me in the list.
I wondered how two poets whose lives are seperated by just over a century would communicate and this is what I came up with. Apart from the context of a dream the names and places are real! !
I hope you enjoy reading this and the poems by the poets mentioned.
Anna Laetitia Aiken Barbaud
oldpoetry.com/opoem/36122
In a list
A contest entry
- Victorian Parlor Game Three -- oldpoetry.com by ea.
300 points, ended July 17, 2006, 5 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 17 of 17
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Thanks for the encouragement Craig but I'm afraid it's only a unicycle version.
Jim -
Loved the terms and language,I would request a seat upon your time machine loved it!
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Hi Thanks for your detailed analysis.
Although I agree that the lady does sound very ingeneous (note her sly, almost impudent, way of getting Priestley to free the mouse) I used that same incident to decide she would be coy in this epistle and assume the guise of most women of that time (as I read it). She was good at dissimulation.
Your point about like is a good one. to use the like would be a little coarse perhaps using -a like mind- would be better but the phrase -like calling out to like- is a standard one in the North of England where she resided (as do I). Perhaps you were reading -felt like, calling out to like- which is a different thing.
Thanks for your invitation to another round. I hope time and inspiration allow me to continue.
Jim -
Thanks for your persistence Shahrzad. I hope it was worth the visit.
Jim -
Thanks for your message. I did try for the feel of a period when, legally, women were still property and the idea of a weaker sex was universally accepted by both sides. I'm glad you feel it worked.
Rhe idea of a keep sake being passed on didn't occur to me but I'll think about it now. I wonder if a married woman would have sent a gift but then her husband is supposed to have known about it in my story hmmm I wonder. . .
I am not sure about the typo it seems exactly what I wanted. Perhaps you could be more precise I some times miss the obvious so I ran it through a spell check but that is not always perfect.
Thanks for writing.
TTFN
Jim -
wow...now I got what this contest was about and how it worked!
Wish you the best luck in the contest dear uncle.
Shahrzad
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Congrats, Anna... You are invited to this exclusive salon...
allpoetry.com/contest/2123986 -
This is an outstanding entry! I am thoroughly in awe of your ability to capture the feel of Anna's era and class in this. I am doubly pleased that you chose to address Father Tabb, as I am a great admirer of his, and I absolutely adore the creative idea you came up with of having this be a letter to the future, occasioned by her prophetic vision of a mature Tabb, as I believe in these kinds of religious epiphanies whole-heartedly as well as appreciate a good piece of fiction.
I do wonder about her self-deprecating use of the expression "within my weak and womanly mind" because I doubt she thought that truly, even in a time that the church would be pushing that. She grew up with liberal parents who encouraged her high intellect and talents and with a father who was a "dissenting" clergyman, if I remember correctly, though I am not familiar with her work or life really, so can not possible know for sure.
I also didn't understand this sentence in paragraph five of her letter: "As an educator myself, I felt like crying out to like." I thought maybe the word "the" is missing.
At any rate, it doesn't at all detract from the great pleasure I had at finding this in the contest this morning and you have inspired me to do a follow-up round of you heavyweights (invite only) where I will pair you up with another writer in here and have you each random a poet and work in tandem for a second prize. Thank you and all the best. -
Very interesting premise, So she simply wrote him in order to share the dream? Well you sound very much like the pious Anna, although I'm not certain that she would have said "within my weak and womanly mind" or perhaps that's just the soul of a 21st century woman saying "how could she?" Because of the time capsul premise, I think it would have been interesting for Anna to bequest to him perhaps a golden crucifix or something...but the important aspect being that she'd had his name engraved on the backside 100 years ago to present to him upon his joining the clergy. Or maybe I just like the idea of treasure. You've got a typo Here:
we have not the good fortune to share a mutual acquaintance but I feel that non such is needed in the circumstances currently existing
Shouldn't non be none?
Well thought out premise! Good job! -
Very interesting premise, So she simply wrote him in order to share the dream? Well you sound very much like the pious Anna, although I'm not certain that she would have said "within my weak and womanly mind" or perhaps that's just the soul of a 21st century woman saying "how could she?" Because of the time capsul premise, I think it would have been interesting for Anna to bequest to him perhaps a golden crucifix or something...but the important aspect being that she'd had his name engraved on the backside 100 years ago to present to him upon his joining the clergy. Or maybe I just like the idea of treasure. You've got a typo Here:
we have not the good fortune to share a mutual acquaintance but I feel that non such is needed in the circumstances currently existing -
You are welcome to come and read but it is not my usual sort of offering.
Your Uncle Jim -
No name change has been made but the letter has been written.
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Hi dear uncle
If I forgot to come here again, please message me.
Shahrzad
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New Rule: Do Not Change the title of your poem please! The other contestants still need to see who their choices are at a glance... thanks
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Hi Shahrzad,
This is a strange one. I had to register before I got the theme of the contest. I now have two days to complete my entry. Call back on Friday!
Jim -
And where's your poem dear uncle?
Wish you luck in the contest.
Shahrzad
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Congrats, you are Anna Laetitia Aiken Barbaud. Look up, look down. Using the bio info available to you and the poems given, write a letter (as Anna Laetitia Aiken Barbaud!) to either one of the old poets above or below your entry. This will go to judgement in two days...
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1 - 17 of 17
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