“A plain statement of their miserable lot in prose, accompanied with a simple, reasonable plan for sweeping chimneys without them, was far better strategically.”

Practical reform, she thought, should not look like a poet's fancy · Letter to James Montgomery, 5 February 1824

• Charity
• Compassion
• Work

“The mind of man is the great object of dramatic imitation.”

Presenting human nature and its passions as the central subject of drama · Preface to A Series of Plays

• Art
• Poetry
• Truth

“This book then, does not hold out the allurement of novelty.”

She gathered scattered songs as old acquaintances rather than new wares · Preface, Fugitive Verses, 1840

• Memory
• Modesty
• Writing