Mary Robinson (poet) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mary Robinson
Portrait of Mary Robinson by Thomas Gainsborough, 1781
Born	Mary Darby (1757-11-27)27 November 1757 Bristol, England
Died	26 December 1800(1800-12-26) (aged 43) Englefield Green, England
Spouse(s)	Thomas Robinson
Children	Mary Elizabeth Robinson

Mary Robinson (née Darby; 27 November 1757 – 26 December 1800) was an English actress, poet, dramatist, novelist, and celebrity figure. She lived in England, in the cities of Bristol and London; she also lived in France and Germany for a time. She enjoyed poetry from the age of seven and started working, first as a teacher and then as actress, from the age of fourteen. She wrote many plays, poems and novels. She was a celebrity, gossiped about in newspapers, famous for her acting and writing. During her lifetime she was known as "the English Sappho". She earned her nickname "Perdita" for her role as Perdita (heroine of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale) in 1779. She was the first public mistress of King George IV while he was still Prince of Wales.

Biography

Early life

Robinson was born in Bristol, England to Nicholas Darby, a naval captain, and his wife Hester (née Vanacott) who had married at Donyatt, Somerset, in 1749, and was baptised 'Polle(y)' ("Spelt 'Polle' in the official register and 'Polly' in the Bishop's Transcript") at St Augustine's Church, Bristol, 19 July 1758, the entry noting that she was born 27 November 1756. In her memoirs, Robinson gives her birth in 1758, but the year 1757 seems more likely according to recently published research (see appendix to Byrne, 2005). Her father deserted her mother and took a mistress when Robinson was still a child. The family hoped for a reconciliation, but Captain Darby made it clear that this was not going to happen. Without the support of her husband, Hester Darby supported herself and the five children born of the marriage by starting a school for young girls in Little Chelsea, London, (where Robinson taught by her 14th birthday). However, during one of his brief returns to the family, Captain Darby had the school closed (which he was entitled to do by English law). Darby died in the Russian naval service in 1785. Robinson, who at one point attended a school run by the social reformer Hannah More, came to the attention of actor David Garrick.

Marriage

Hester Darby encouraged her daughter to accept the proposal of an articled clerk, Thomas Robinson, who claimed to have an inheritance. Mary was against this idea; however, after falling ill and watching him take care of her and her younger brother, she felt that she owed him, and she did not want to disappoint her mother who was pushing for the engagement. After the early marriage, Robinson discovered her husband did not have an inheritance. He continued to live an elaborate lifestyle, however, and made no effort to hide multiple affairs. Subsequently, Mary supported their family. After her husband squandered their money, the couple fled to Talgarth, Breconshire (where Robinson's only daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was born in November). Here they lived in a fairly large estate, called Tregunter Park. Eventually her husband was imprisoned for debt in the Fleet Prison where she lived with him for many months. While it was common for the wives of prisoners to live with their husbands while indebted, children were usually sent to live with relatives to keep them away from the dangers of prison. However, Robinson was deeply devoted to her daughter Maria, and when her husband was imprisoned, Robinson brought the 6-month-old baby with her.

It was in the Fleet Prison that Robinson's literary career really began, as she found that she could publish poetry to earn money, and to give her an escape from the harsh reality that had become her life. Her first book, Poems By Mrs. Robinson, was published in 1775 by C. Parker. Additionally, Robinson's husband was offered work in the form of copying legal documents so he could try to pay back some of his debts, but he refused to do anything. Robinson, in an effort to keep the family together and to get back to normal life outside of prison, took the job instead, collecting the pay that her husband neglected to earn. During this time, Mary Robinson found a patron in Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, who sponsored the publication of Robinson's second volume of poems, Captivity.

Theatre

After her husband obtained his release from prison, Robinson decided to return to the theatre. She launched her acting career and took to the stage playing Juliet at Drury Lane Theatre in December 1776. Robinson was best known for her facility with the 'breeches parts', and her performances as Viola in William Shakespeare'sTwelfth Night and Rosalind in As You Like It won her extensive praise. But she gained popularity with playing in Florizel and Perdita, an adaptation of Shakespeare, with the role of Perdita (heroine of The Winter's Tale) in 1779. It was during this performance that she attracted the notice of the young Prince of Wales, later King George IV of the United Kingdom. He offered her twenty thousand pounds to become his mistress. During this time, the very young Emma, Lady Hamilton sometimes worked as her maid and dresser at the theatre.

With her new social prominence, Robinson became a trend-setter in London, introducing a loose, flowing muslin style of gown based upon Grecian statuary that became known as the Perdita. It took Robinson a considerable amount of time to decide to leave her husband for the Prince. Throughout much of her life she struggled to live in the public eye and also to stay true to the values in which she believed. She eventually gave in to her desires to be with a man who she thought would treat her better than Mr Robinson. However the Prince ended their relationship in 1781. Robinson was left to support herself through an annuity promised by the Crown (but rarely paid), in return for some letters written by the Prince, and through her writings. After her relationship with the young Prince of Wales she became famous for her rides in her extravagant carriages and her celebrity–like perception by the public.

Later life and death

Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton by Joshua Reynolds

In 1783, Robinson suffered a mysterious illness that left her partially paralysed.

From the late 1780s, Robinson became distinguished for her poetry and was called "the English Sappho". In addition to poems, she wrote eight novels, three plays, feminist treatises, and an autobiographical manuscript that was incomplete at the time of her death. Like her contemporary Mary Wollstonecraft, she championed the rights of women and was an ardent supporter of the French Revolution. She died in poverty at Englefield Cottage, Englefield Green, Surrey, 26 December 1800, aged 44, having survived several years of ill health, and was survived by her daughter, Maria Elizabeth (1774-1818), who was also a published novelist. Administration of her estate was granted to her husband Thomas Robinson from whom she had long been separated and who in 1803 inherited a substantial estate from his half-brother William. One of Robinson's dying wishes was to see the rest of her works published. She tasked her daughter, Maria Robinson, with publishing most of these works. She also placed her Memoirs in the care of her daughter, insisting that she publish the work. Maria Robinson published Memoirs just a few months later.

Portraits

During her lifetime, Robinson also enjoyed the distinction of having her image captured by the most notable artists of the period. The earliest known, drawn by James Roberts II, depicts "Mrs. Robinson in the Character of Amanda" from Cibber's Love's Last Shift in 1777. In 1781, Thomas Gainsborough produced an oil sketch, Mrs. Mary Robinson 'Perdita', and an untitled study. That year, George Romney also painted Mrs. Mary Robinson and John Keyse Sherwin printed an untitled portrait. Joshua Reynolds sketched a study for what became Portrait of a Lady in 1782, and in 1784, he finished Mrs Robinson as Contemplation for which he also sketched a study. George Dance the Younger sketched a later portrait in 1793.

Literature

Mrs Robinson by Thomas Gainsborough, 1781

In 1792 Robinson published her most popular novel which was a Gothic novel titled, Vancenza; or The Dangers of Credulity. The books were "sold out by lunch time on the first day and five more editions quickly followed, making it one of the top-selling novels in the latter part of the eighteenth century." It did not receive either critical or popular acclaim. In 1794 she wrote The Widow; or, A Picture of Modern Times which portrayed themes of manners in the fashionable world. Since Robinson was a fashion icon and very much involved in the fashion world the novel did not get a lot of favourable reception in 1794 as it might have now. In 1796 she wrote Angelina: A Novel. It cost more money than it brought in. Through this novel, she offers her thoughts on the afterlife of her literary career.

There has been an increase in scholarly attention to Robinson’s literary output in recent years. An eight-volume scholarly edition of Robinson's complete works was published in 2009–2010. In 2011, Daniel Robinson (no relation), editor of the poetry for the edition, published the first scholarly monograph to focus exclusively on her literary achievement--The Poetry of Mary Robinson: Form and Fame. A second monograph on Robinson's literary career, Mary Robinson and the Genesis of Romanticism: Literary Dialogues and Debts, 1784-1821, by Ashley Cross, appeared in 2016. Although, Robinson's novels were not as successful as she hoped, she had a talent for her poetry. Her ability to produce poetry can be seen furthermore in her poems titled "Sappho and Phaeon". Since the press had given her the name "The English Sappho", a clear relationship can be drawn between these poems and her literary name.

Mary Darby Robinson was not only praised in literary circles for her poetry but also for her works written in prose. The two best known examples are "A Letter to the Women of England" (1798) and "The Natural Daughter" (1799). Both her works are dealing with the role of women during the Romantic Era. Mary Robinson as much as Mary Wollenstonecraft tried to put the focus on how inferior women were treated in comparison to men. The discrepancy can be seen in both of her works. "The Natural Daughter" can be seen as an autobiography of Mary Robinson. The characters are in many ways patterns of her own life and the stages of her life. All the characters are symbols of her own coming of age or people she met in her life.

Poetry

Perdita, portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1782.

From the late 1780s, Robinson, striving to separate herself from her past scandals, and life as a theatre actress, turned to writing as a full-time career. Robinson, disregarding her previous associations with the nickname “Perdita”, meaning “lost one”, soon became distinguished for her poetry and was reclassified as "the English Sappho" by the English public. During her 25-year writing career, from 1775 until her premature death in 1800, Robinson produced an immense body of work. In addition to eight collections of poems, Robinson wrote eight novels, three plays, feminist treatises, and an autobiographical manuscript that was incomplete at the time of her death.

Poems by Mrs. Robinson, was published by C. Parker, in London, in 1775. "Poems" consisted of “twenty-six ballads, odes, and elegies” that “echo traditional values, praising values such as charity, sincerity, and innocence, particularly in a woman”. Robinson's husband, Thomas Robinson was imprisoned at the King's Bench Prison for fifteen months for the gambling debts he acquired. Robinson originally intended for the profits made from this collection to help pay off his debts. But the publication of Poems could not prevent his imprisonment. Robinson lived for nine months and three weeks with Thomas and their baby within the squalor of prison.

Motivated by the months she spent in prison, Robinson wrote Captivity; a Poem and Celadon and Lydia, a Tale, published by T. Becket, in London, in 1777. This collection “described the horrors of captivity and painted a sympathetic picture of the ‘wretch’ and the ‘guiltless partners of his poignant woes’...The poem ends admonishing people to open their hearts and to pity the unfortunate...”

Following the publication of Captivity, Robinson established a new poetic identity for herself. Robinson let go of her Della Cruscan style when she wrote Poems by Mary Robinson, published in 1791 by J. Bell in London, and Poems by Mrs. Robinson, published in 1793 by T. Spilsbury in London. A review was written by the Gentleman's Magazine and the reviewer stated that if Robinson had been less blessed with "beauty and captivating manners","her poetical taste might have been confined in its influence". At the end of the review, "the Gentleman's Magazine describes her poetry as elegant and harmonious.

In 1795, Robinson wrote a satirical poem titled London's Summer Morning, but it was published after her death in 1800. This poem showcased Robinson's critical perspective of the infrastructure and society of London. Robinson described the busy and loud sounds of the industrialised city in the morning. She employed characters such as the chimney-boy, and ruddy housemaid to make a heavy critique on the way English society treated children as both innocent and fragile creatures.

In 1796, Robinson argued for women's rationality, their right to education and illustrated ideas of free will, rationalisation, empiricism and relationship to sensibility in Sappho and Phaon: In a Series of Legitimate Sonnets.

Portrait by George Romney, c. 1782

During the 1790s, Robinson was highly inspired by feminism and desired to spread her liberal sentiments through her writing. She was an ardent admirer of Mary Wollstonecraft, an established and influential feminist writer of the period.

In 1800, after years of failing health and decline into financial ruin, Robinson wrote her last piece of literature during her lifetime: a series of poems titled the Lyrical Tales, published by Longman & Rees, in London.

Works

As Perdita, attributed to John Hoppner.

Poetry

• Poems by Mrs. Robinson (London: C. Parker, 1775) Digital Edition
• Captivity, a Poem and Celadon and Lydia, a Tale. Dedicated, by Permission, to Her Grace the Duchess of Devonshire. (London: T. Becket, 1777)
• Ainsi va le Monde, a Poem. Inscribed to Robert Merry, Esq. A.M. [Laura Maria] (London: John Bell, 1790)
• Poems by Mrs. M. Robinson (London: J. Bell, 1791)
• The Beauties of Mrs. Robinson (London: H. D. Symonds, 1791)
• Monody to the Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Late President of the Royal Academy, &c. &c. &c. (London: J. Bell, 1792)
• Ode to the Harp of the Late Accomplished and Amiable Louisa Hanway (London: John Bell, 1793)
• Modern Manners, a Poem. In Two Cantos. By Horace Juvenal (London: Printed for the Author, 1793)
• Sight, the Cavern of Woe, and Solitude. Poems (London: T. Spilsbury and Son, 1793)
• Monody to the Memory of the Late Queen of France (London: T. Spilsbury and Son, 1793)
• Poems by Mrs. M. Robinson. Volume the Second (London: T. Spilsbury and Son, 1793)
• Poems, by Mrs. Mary Robinson. A New Edition (London: T. Spilsbury, 1795)
• Sappho and Phaon. In a Series of Legitimate Sonnets, with Thoughts on Poetical Subjects, and Anecdotes of the Grecian Poetess (London: For the Author, 1796)
• Lyrical Tales, by Mrs. Mary Robinson (London: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1800) Digital Edition
• The Mistletoe. --- A Christmas Tale [Laura Maria] (London: Laurie & Whittle, 1800)

Novels

• Vancenza; or, the Dangers of Credulity. In Two Volumes (London: Printed for the Authoress, 1792)
• The Widow, or a Picture of Modern Times. A Novel, in a Series of Letters, in Two Volumes (London: Hookham and Carpenter, 1794)
• Angelina; a Novel, in Three Volumes (London: Printed for the Author, 1796)
• Hubert de Sevrac, a Romance, of the Eighteenth Century (London: Printed for the Author, 1796)
• Walsingham; or, the Pupil of Nature. A Domestic Story (London: T. N. Longman, 1797)
• The False Friend: a Domestic Story (London: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1799)
• Natural Daughter. With Portraits of the Leadenhead Family]. A Novel (London: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1799)

Dramas

• The Lucky Escape, A Comic Opera (performed on 23 April 1778 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane)
• The Songs, Chorusses, &c. in The Lucky Escape, a Comic Opera, as Performed at the Theatre-Royal, in Drury-Lane (London: Printed for the Author, 1778)
• Kate of Aberdeen (a comic opera withdrawn in 1793 and never staged)
• Nobody. A Comedy in Two Acts (performed on 27 Nov. 1794 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane) Digital Edition
• The Sicilian Lover. A Tragedy. In Five Acts (London: Printed for the Author, 1796)

Political Treatises

• Impartial Reflections on the Present Situation of the Queen of France; by A Friend to Humanity (London: John Bell, 1791)
• A Letter to the Women of England, on the Injustice of Mental Subordination. With Anecdotes. By Anne Frances Randall] (London: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1799)
• Thoughts on the Condition of Women, and on the Injustice of Mental Subordination (London: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1799)

Essays

• “The Sylphid. No. I,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 29 Oct. 1799: 2 (also printed in Memoirs 3: 3–8)
• “The Sylphid. No. II,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 7 Nov. 1799: 2 (also printed in Memoirs 3: 8–16)
• “The Sylphid. No. III,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 16 Nov. 1799: 3 (also printed in Memoirs 3: 17–21)
• “The Sylphid. No. IV,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 23 Nov. 1799: 2 (edited version printed in Memoirs 3: 21–26)
• “The Sylphid. No. V,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 27 Nov. 1799: 2 (also printed in Memoirs 3: 27–31)
• “The Sylphid. No. VI,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 7 Dec. 1799: 2 (edited version printed in Memoirs 3: 31–35)
• “The Sylphid. No. VII,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 19 Dec. 1799: 2 (also printed in Memoirs 3: 35–40)
• “The Sylphid. No. VIII,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 24 Dec. 1799: 2 (also printed in Memoirs 3: 41–45)
• “The Sylphid. No. IX,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 2 Jan. 1800: 3 (also printed as No. XIV in Memoirs 3: 74–80)
• “To the Sylphid,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 4 Jan. 1800: 3 (also printed as No. IX in Memoirs 3: 46–50)
• “The Sylphid. No. X,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 7 Jan. 1800: 3 (also printed in Memoirs 3: 51–57)
• “The Sylphid. No. XI,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 11 Jan. 1800: 2 (also printed in Memoirs 3: 58–63)
• “The Sylphid. No. XII,” Morning Post and Gazetteer 31 Jan. 1800: 2 (edited version printed in Memoirs 3: 63–68)
• “The Sylphid. No. XIII,” Memoirs 3: 68-73 (no extant copy of Morning Post exists)
• “Present State of the Manners, Society, &c. &c. of the Metropolis of England,” Monthly Magazine 10 (Aug. 1800): 35–38.
• “Present State of the Manners, Society, &c. &c. of the Metropolis of England,” Monthly Magazine 10 (Sept. 1800): 138-40
• “Present State of the Manners, Society, &c. &c. of the Metropolis of England,” Monthly Magazine 10 (Oct. 1800): 218-22
• “Present State of the Manners, Society, &c. &c. of the Metropolis of England,” Monthly Magazine 10 (Oct. 1800): 305-06

Translation

• Picture of Palermo by Dr. Hager translated from the German by Mrs. Mary Robinson (London: R. Phillips, 1800)

Biographical Sketches

• “Anecdotes of Eminent Persons: Memoirs of the Late Duc de Biron,” Monthly Magazine 9 (Feb.1800): 43-46
• “Anecdotes of Eminent Persons: Account of Rev. John Parkhurst,” Monthly Magazine 9 (July 1800): 560-61
• “Anecdotes of Eminent Persons: Account of Bishop Parkhurst,” Monthly Magazine 9 (July 1800): 561
• “Anecdotes of Eminent Persons: Additional Anecdotes of Philip Egalité Late Duke of Orleans,” Monthly Magazine 10 (Aug. 1800): 39-40
• “Anecdotes of Eminent Persons: Anecdotes of the Late Queen of France,” Monthly Magazine 10 (Aug. 1800): 40-41

Posthumous Publications

• “Mr. Robert Ker Porter.” Public Characters of 1800-1801 (London: R. Phillips, 1801)
• Memoirs of the Late Mrs. Robinson, Written by Herself with Some Posthumous Pieces. In Four Volumes (London: R. Phillips, 1801)
• “Jasper. A Fragment,” Memoirs of the Late Mrs. Robinson, Vol. 3 (London: R. Phillips, 1801)
• “The Savage of Aveyron,” Memoirs of the Late Mrs. Robinson, Vol. 3 (London: R. Phillips, 1801)
• “The Progress of Liberty,” Memoirs of the Late Mrs. Robinson, Vol. 4 (London: R. Phillips, 1801)
• The Poetical Works of the Late Mrs. Mary Robinson: Including Many Pieces Never Before Published. In Three Volumes (London: Richard Phillips, 1806)