Sarah Fyge Egerton facts for kids

Sarah Fyge Egerton (1668–1723) was an English poet who lived a long time ago, in the late 1600s and early 1700s. She wrote about many important topics in her poems, like friendship, marriage, and education. Sarah is best known for a poem she wrote when she was a teenager. It was called The Female Advocate, and it bravely defended women.

Title page, Sarah Fyge Egerton, The Female Advocate, 1686

Sarah's Early Life and Education

Sarah Fyge was born in London and was baptized on December 20, 1668. Her father was Thomas Fyge, and her mother was Rebecca Alcock. Sadly, Sarah's mother passed away when Sarah was only three years old. After that, her father's second wife, Mary Beacham, helped raise her.

Sarah's father was an apothecary, which is like a pharmacist, in London. His family also owned land. Because of her family's wealth, Sarah grew up in a comfortable home. It seems she received a good education, either at school or at home. She learned about things like old stories (mythology), ideas about life (philosophy), and places (geography).

When Sarah was 14 years old, she wrote her most famous work, The Female Advocate (1686). This poem was her answer to another writer, Robert Gould, who had written a poem saying bad things about women. Sarah's poem stood up for women. After the second version of The Female Advocate was published, her father sent her to live with relatives outside of London. Sarah later wrote about this difficult time in a poem called "On my leaving London."

Sarah's Marriages

Sarah Fyge was married two times. Her first husband was a lawyer named Edward Field. She wrote a poem called "On my wedding Day" that showed she was not sure about getting married. This marriage did not last long because Edward passed away.

Later, Sarah married her second cousin, Thomas Egerton. He was a clergyman, which is a church leader, and much older than her. Even after she married Thomas, Sarah still had feelings for Henry Pierce, who was a friend of her first husband. She wrote many letters to him and called him "Alexis" in some of her poems.

Sarah and Thomas Egerton's marriage was known for being difficult. In 1703, they tried to get a divorce, but it was not granted. Another writer, Delarivier Manley, wrote about Sarah and her marriage in a book. After this, Sarah Fyge Egerton mostly stopped being in the public eye. She passed away on February 13, 1723.

Sarah's Writings

Like many women writers in her time, Sarah probably shared her poems with a group of other female poets. She wrote that her poems were "never seen but by my own sex." Sometimes, her works were reviewed by her friends, and she even worked with other poets on projects. For example, she helped write The Nine Muses, a tribute poem for a famous writer named John Dryden.

Sarah is most famous for The Female Advocate (1686). In this poem, she argued against old social rules that limited women's freedom. In another book, Poems on Several Occasions, Sarah wrote that love was "the only proper theme" for women. But her most important work is remembered for speaking up for women's rights.

The Female Advocate

Sarah Egerton first became known in the writing world when she published The Female Advocate in 1686. This poem was her strong response to ideas that were unfair to women.

Poems on Several Occasions

Sarah Egerton's book Poems on Several Occasions Together with a Pastoral (1703) has many of her best-known poems. This book has 56 different poems. Many of them tell a bit about her life and continue to challenge old ideas about what women should be like. She also writes about love, often connected to her own experiences.

The poems that speak for women's rights talk about:

• The right for girls and women to get an education.
• The idea that women are equal to or even better than men.
• The different roles women should have in society.

Her poems about love often show feelings of doubt and how vulnerable people can feel when they are in love.

Poems from Poems on Several Occasions

"To Philaster"

"To Philaster" is a poem where the writer remembers a past love. She also criticizes the person she calls Philaster, saying he was a "deceiver." The poem starts by calling him a "perjur'd Youth." But then, the speaker remembers that he "had innocence when [he] was mine." This suggests that remembering their love might have brought her some comfort. The poem ends with the speaker realizing he was deceitful. But she also believes that she was the first and most important love of his life. This poem shows how Sarah could write about the confusing and emotional parts of love.

"Emulation"

"Emulation" is a poem that challenges the "tyrant Custom" that makes women "in every state a slave." The speaker believes that society unfairly limits women to roles like "The nurse, the mistress, parent." She thinks that men keep women from getting an education because they are afraid. Men "fear [that] we should excel their sluggish parts," meaning they worry women would be better than them if they studied science and arts.

The poem argues that there is no good reason for women to have less important roles just because of their gender. It says women are just as smart and capable as men. The poem ends on a hopeful note. It suggests that women will eventually get educated. When they do, "Wit's empire now shall know a female reign," meaning women will lead in the world of knowledge and ideas.

"To Mariana"

"To Mariana" is a poem that complains about a woman who spoke against new, progressive ideas for women. This was a common topic among Sarah Egerton's friends who were also writers.

"The Liberty"

"The Liberty" begins by asking, "Shall I be one, of those obsequious fools,/That square there lives, by customs scanty rules?" This means, "Should I be one of those people who just follow old, strict rules?" The poem says that following these rules too closely is like being a servant. It expresses frustration with how the education system teaches people to follow rules instead of truly learning. The poem is especially concerned about the rules that tell women what roles they should play in society.

Online Texts

• Sarah Fyge Egerton at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
• "The Emulation"
• "The Repulse to Alcander"
• "To Philaster"