Barber, Mary

(1690-1757)

   Irish poet whose poetic name was Sapphira, began writing poetry for the purpose of stimulating her children's lessons. Her "The Widow Gordon's Petition" raised money to support an officer's widow left penniless and with a blind child. A friendship sprang up between Mrs. Barber and Jonathan Swift, who introduced her to his influential friends in Englandwhere she finally settled. Poems on Several Occasions (1734), which went through three editions, was criticized by some as being dull. She survived ill health and slanderous reports about forgery and in 1737 cooperated with Swift to publish his Polite Conversations, which was presented as a successful play at the theatre in Dublin. In 1755 a selection from her Poems was published in two volumes of Poems by the Most Eminent Ladies. G. Colman and B. Thornton, eds. Northern Kentucky University, 2003. Some of her other poems: "To a Lady," "Written for My Son ... at His First Putting on Breeches," "Written for My Son ... Upon His Master's First Bringing in a Rod."

   Sources: British Literature 1640-1789 (www.blackwellpublishing.com/contents.asp?ref=063121769X). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu: 8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Eighteenth Century Women Poets: An Oxford Antholog y. Roger Lonsdale, ed. Oxford University Press, 1989. Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Poetry of Mary Barber. Bernard Tucker, ed. The Edwin Mellen Press, 1992.