Mehetabel Wesley Wright facts for kids
Mehetabel Wesley Wright (nicknamed "Hetty" or "Kitty"; 1697 – 21 March 1750) was an English poet. She was part of the famous Wesley family, known for their religious influence.
Early Life and Family
Mehetabel Wright was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire. Her father, Samuel Wesley, was a clergyman and poet. Her mother was Susanna Wesley. Mehetabel was one of 19 children, though many of her siblings died when they were very young.
Her younger brothers, John Wesley and Charles Wesley, later became important leaders of the Methodist movement. Her older brother, Samuel Wesley the Younger, was also a poet and a church leader. Mehetabel had a good education for her time. It is said that she could read the Greek Testament when she was only eight years old. People described her as witty and having a good sense of humor.
Life and Poetry
As Mehetabel grew up, she had many people who admired her. However, her family often did not approve of the men she wished to marry. In 1725, her father encouraged her to marry William Wright, a plumber and glazier. She married him on 13 October 1725.
Mehetabel found that she and her husband were very different. She wrote in a letter that their marriage lacked "mutual affection" and "equality of mind." She gave birth to a baby in February 1726, but the child lived only until December.
Mehetabel and William Wright had several children, but sadly, all of them died young. This deep sadness and the difficulties in her marriage greatly influenced her poetry. She wrote many poems during this time that showed her grief and frustration. For example, poems like "A Mother's Soliloquy Over Her Dying Infant" and "To an infant expiring the second day of its birth" (written in 1733) show her deep sorrow over losing her children.
Her relationship with her father became difficult. Her brother Samuel also wrote a poem in response to one of her poems, "Wedlock: A Satire."
For several years before she died, Mehetabel was very ill and found it hard to write. Poems such as "A Farewell to the World" and "An Epitaph on Herself" seem to hint at her own death. In 1744, during a period of illness, her brother John arranged for her to visit Bristol. There, she saw her brothers leading their religious services. She became more interested in their teachings. Mehetabel Wesley Wright died in London on 21 March 1750.
Her Lasting Impact
Mehetabel Wright did not publish her poems herself. However, her poems were shared among her family and friends during her life and after she passed away. Some of her poems appeared in a collection called The poetical calendar in the 1720s. Others were published in different collections and magazines, like the Poetical Register and the Christian Magazine. Her poem "Address to her Dying Infant" is known for its gentle words and beautiful language, even though it shows the sadness of her marriage.
People thought highly of Mehetabel Wright. The famous novelist Samuel Richardson included her in a list of women he considered "moral examples" in 1750. John Duncombe also shared some of her poems in the 1750s and praised her in his work The Feminead; or, Female Genius (1754).
Later, Adam Clarke collected many of her poems and details about her life in his book Memoirs of the Wesley family (1823). Her poetry was also included with her family's works in The Bards of Epworth (1856).
In 1903, the well-known novelist Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch wrote a historical novel called "Hetty Wesley," which was based on Mehetabel's life. Roger Lonsdale also included a biography of Mehetabel Wesley Wright and some of her poems in his book Eighteenth-Century Women Poets: An Oxford Anthology (1989).
