Anna Barbauld's "The Mouse's Petition" and Animal Experimentation - Final Research Paper Proposal

One point that has been restated over and over in the reading that we have done this semester is that women were not accepted in scientific circles during the long 19th century. Tracy Chevalier's book Remarkable Creatures fictionalized the events of Mary Anning's life, including her lack of recognition by the male scientists who relied on her expertise when they were among their male peers in various societies. Steven Johnson wrote in Species Seekers about how the wives of naturalists who provided the extremely detailed, sophisticated illustrations of their husband's specimens would not be credited in publications. And the wall text detailing Charles and Emma Darwin's marriage in the Down House exhibit even included the statement that Darwin "did not look for a wife who shared his scientific passions or had aspirations of her own." Unable to speak or write about science in any official capacity, women had to find alternate means to express their interest and knowledge, often in the form of stories meant to teach children about science. Some women sought to challenge male scientists from the "sensible" feminine domain of poetry, including Anna Barbauld in her poem, "The Mouse's Petition,"

A modern illustration to Barbauld's poem
Source: http://www.animalliberationfront.com/
Saints/Authors/Poetry/A_Mouses_Plea.htm

Joseph Priestly, a Dissenting clergyman and natural philosopher, began conducting experiments with different kinds of air in 1771, eventually leading to his discovery of oxygen. Priestly often conducted his experiments on mice, placing them in glass vacuum jars and slowly depriving them of air, or exposing them to air laced with toxic gases. Anna Barbauld, then Anna Aiken, was visiting Priestly at his home when he was conducting these experiments. According to Barbauld's memoirist, William Turner, a mouse was brought into the house by a servant after the Priestly family and their guest had finished supper, which was too late in the evening for any experiment to be conducted on the mouse. The servant was instructed to cage the mouse until morning when an experiment could be conducted. During the night, Barbauld wrote a poem in the mouse's voice, arguing for its release. Addressing the poem to Priestly, she twisted it among the wires of the cage, where it was found the next morning when the mouse was brought in after breakfast. If Turner is to be believed, Barbauld's poem persuaded Priestly to let the mouse go. Barbauld had challenged Priestly's killing of these mice with poetry, and she seemed to have been successful.

The first page of "The Mouse's Petition," 1773
Source: http://en.wikisource.org/
wiki/The_Mouse's_Petition

Barbauld's poem to Priestly had been meant as a private exchange, though, that wasn't supposed to receive the critique and interpretation of the viewing public. Barbauld's brother pressured her into published her work, though, and the poem appeared in her first edition of poetry. Critics immediately latched on to "The Mouse's Petition" as a vehement rejection of animal experimentation. Barbauld, not wanting such critics to damage Priestly's reputation, tried to quickly backpedal, stating that the poem was intended "as the petition of mercy against justice," not as "the pleas of humanity against cruelty." She claimed that the poem was meant to be a larger statement about poverty and the rights of the poor, but the reading of the poem as a challenge to animal cruelty remained, influencing animal rights activists for years after the poem's publication. In my research paper, I want to explore the different ways that Barbauld's poem was read and how different activist groups, especially those composed mainly of women, used her poem in their movements. The poem was also generally included in children's literature, in spite of its rather weighty metaphysical ideas such as the transmigration of souls, because of its anthropomorphizing of the mouse, so I would like to explore the contrast between the poem being used as an anthem for a cause and as children's reading and how initial critical reception of the poem allowed for both usages of the poem.