Anne Bannerman

{{Short description|Scottish poet (1765–1829)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Use British English|date=November 2016}}

{{Infobox Writer | name = Anne Bannerman | image = Bannerman-Tales.jpg | caption = Title page, Anon. [Anne Bannerman], ''Tales of Superstition and Chivalry'' (Vernor and Hood, 1802) | pseudonym = Augusta | birth_date = 31 October 1765 | birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland | death_date = 29 September 1829 | death_place = Portobello, Edinburgh | occupation = Poet | period = Romantic | relatives = Isobel (''née'' Dick) Bannerman (mother); William Bannerman (father) | portaldisp = yes }}

'''Anne Bannerman''' (31 October 1765 – 29 September 1829) was a Scottish poet. She was part of the Edinburgh literary circle which included John Leyden, Jessie Stewart, Thomas Campbell, and Robert Anderson. Her work was popular in her lifetime<ref>"Anne Bannerman." Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present. Accessed 8 Aug. 2022. ([https://orlando.cambridge.org/profiles/bannan Orlando])</ref> and "remains significant for her Gothic ballads, as well as for her innovative sonnet series and her bold original odes."<ref>Adriana Craciun, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1312 Bannerman, Anne (1765–1829)]," ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford: OUP, 2004).</ref>

==Early life== Bannerman was born in Edinburgh to Isobel (''née'' Dick) and William Bannerman, a "running stationer" licensed to sell ballads in the streets.

==Career== Bannerman's early work was published, often pseudonymously, in periodicals, notably the ''Monthly Magazine'', the ''Poetical Register'', and the ''Edinburgh Magazine'', the latter of which was edited by her friend and supporter, Dr Robert Anderson. She was read and admired by Thomas Park, James Currie, Bishop Thomas Percy, Anne Grant, and antiquary Joseph Cooper Walker. Her first volume, ''Poems'' (1800), was well regarded but did not sell well. It contains a series of odes, original sonnets, a sonnet series translated from Petrarch, and another based on ''The Sorrows of Werther''. In these two latter Bannerman developed Joanna Baillie's theory of dramatic composition — her stated intent to focus on the progress of one master passion — and applied it to poetry. Her second collection, ''Tales of Superstition and Chivalry'' (1802) was published anonymously. It consisted of ten Gothic ballads and four engravings and did not fare so well with reviewers, in part because of her penchant for the strain of obscurity and ambiguity within the Gothic tradition.<ref>Adriana Craciun, ''Fatal Women of Romanticism'' (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003), 156.</ref> Her ballads were, however, praised by Walter Scott.<ref>Walter Scott, "Essay on imitations of the ancient ballad," ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' (1830). Rev. and ed. T.F. Henderson. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1932. Vol. 4.16–17.</ref>

After the deaths of her mother and brother, she struggled financially and was a governess for a period despite precarious health. Although various of her friends supported her and sought to procure her a pension, such attempts were largely unsuccessful and she died in debt on 29 September 1829.

Contemporary scholars are rediscovering her work and she is the subject of several recent studies.

== Works == * ''Poems by Anne Bannerman'' (Edinburgh: Mundel / London:Longman, 1800), including "The Mermaid," "The Genii," "The Nun," and "Ode: the Spirit of the Air" * "Epistle from the Marquis de Lafayette to General Washington" (attrib.; 1800) * ''Tales of Superstition and Chivalry'' (pub. anon.; London: Ann Vernor and Thomas Hood, 1802) ([https://web.archive.org/web/20070405162116/http://digital.lib.ucdavis.edu/projects/bwrp/Works/BannATales.htm Etext], British Women Romantic Poets Project). * ''Poems, by Anne Bannerman. A New Edition'' (pub. by subscription; 1807), including "To Miss Baillie" *"On the loss of a child in infancy." ''The Casket, a Miscellany, Consisting of Unpublished Poems''. (London: John Murray, 1829, pp. 349–350). *"The Exile." ''The Laurel. Fugitive Poetry of the XIXth Century''. (London: John Sharpe, 1830, pp. 290–291).

== Notes == {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * "Bannerman, Anne (1765–1829)." ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English''. Virginia Blain, et al., eds. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1990. 56-57. * "Bannerman, Anne." The Women's Print History Project, 2019, Person ID 15. Accessed 2022-08-08. ([https://womensprinthistoryproject.com/person/15 WPHP]) * Craciun, Adriana. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929063130/http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/swrp/bios/S7019-D001.html Anne Bannerman: A Critical Introduction]." ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929063137/http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/SWRP/index.html Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period]''. 2005. * Craciun, Adriana. "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1312 Bannerman, Anne (1765–1829)]." ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 28 Mar. 2007.

== Etexts == *"The Exile." ''The Laurel. Fugitive Poetry of the XIXth Century''. (London: John Sharpe, 1830, pp. 290–291). ([https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000006360672&view=1up&seq=304&skin=2021 HathiTrust]) *"On the loss of a child in infancy." ''The Casket, a Miscellany, Consisting of Unpublished Poems''. (London: John Murray, 1829, pp. 349–350) ([https://archive.org/details/casketamiscella00blengoog/page/n382/mode/2up Internet Archive]) *''Poems''. A new ed. Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell, Doig, & Stevenson, 1807. ([https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100191882 HathiTrust]) *''Tales of Superstition and Chivalry'' (pub. anon.; London: Ann Vernor and Thomas Hood, 1802) ([https://archive.org/details/talessuperstiti00bangoog Internet Archive]) ([https://web.archive.org/web/20070405162116/http://digital.lib.ucdavis.edu/projects/bwrp/Works/BannATales.htm Archived transcription]; British Women Romantic Poets Project).

== External links == * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Anne Bannerman}} *Craciun, Adriana. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929063130/http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/swrp/bios/S7019-D001.html Anne Bannerman: A Critical Introduction. Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period]." Archived. Accessed 8 Aug. 2022. * Crone-Romanovski, Mary, Sharon Estes, and Robi Rhodes. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060910052616/http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/croneromanovski1/bannerman.htm Anne Bannerman]''.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannerman, Anne}} Category:1765 births Category:1829 deaths Category:19th-century Scottish writers Category:19th-century Scottish women writers Category:Writers from Edinburgh Category:Ballads Category:19th-century pseudonymous women writers Category:Romantic poets Category:Writers of the Romantic era Category:Writing circles Category:Scottish women poets Category:19th-century pseudonymous writers