Bannerman, Anne

31 October 1765 - 29 September 1829

Born, appropriately enough, on Halloween, Bannerman is a Scottish poet little-known today, though in her day her work, much of which was first published in important periodicals of the time, was powerful enough to merit praise from Sir Walter Scott and other members of the literati. Her work never found commercial success, however, and despite taking work as a governess Bannerman died in debt.

Thanks to Matthew Heilmann for bringing Bannerman to my attention and for supplying information for this page.

Sites:
Anne Bannerman: A Critical Introduction
By noted Romantics scholar Adrianna Craciun, this substantial essay provides a valuable introduction to Bannerman's work. [Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period]
Brief biographical note
[Wikipedia]



Etexts:
Tales Of Superstition and Chivalry [1802]
The second of Bannerman's two collections of poetry to be published, this volume of Gothic ballads was notorious, as Adriana Craciun reports (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography), for one its engravings ("The Prophecy of Merlin"), which featured a nude female figure. It generated enough of a scandal that Bannerman asked the publisher to remove the offending illustration. The etext below contains images of the engravings, including "The Prophecy of Merlin."
- at British Women Romantics Project

Poems: A New Edition (1807)
An expanded edition of Bannerman's first collection, which includes the poems from Tales... as well as a few new poems and revisions of earlier works. It was published by subscription, but raised very little money.
- at GoogleBooks (efacsimile of 1807 edition)

"Anne Bannerman."