Book Review

An Engaged Woman

Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist
by Karen Swallow Prior
Nelson Books, 2014
(302 pages, $24.99, hardcover)

reviewed by Joseph Stuchal

Most scholars of the Romantic period know Hannah More—if they know her at all—as a writer of cheap tracts that attacked the social evils plaguing the lower classes of society. But as Karen Swallow Prior illustrates in her new biography, she was far more than a mere writer of romantic ballads and stories. More, who began her career as a schoolteacher for girls, became a successful and famous playwright, poet, abolitionist, education reformer, and novelist—among other things.
Why, then, has posterity all but forgotten the once-famed author? The answer is complex, but, as Prior explains, More is often overlooked because of one other vocation she took very seriously: Christianity. Her commitment to the faith all but destroyed her theater career, as she became disenchanted with writing for a venue that not only undercut her values but also questioned her fitness for the enterprise. As Prior notes, "the world of the theater was not generally kind to those of conservative and religious leanings. During the negotiations with her publisher Cadwell for the book rights to The Fatal Falsehood, the publisher remarked, 'You are too good a Christian to be a dramatic author'" (96). Indeed, one could easily broaden the comment to apply to More's situation in scholarly circles: she was too good a Christian to be an author whom scholars today will read and take seriously.

Fortunately, Prior takes More and her achievements very seriously, and the result is a solid biography that offers scholars and lay readers alike some much-needed insight into the "first literary female" Samuel Taylor Coleridge ever met (246).

Prior plots the trajectory of More's life and career over five major phases: (1) her upbringing and job at the family-run girls' school; (2) her introduction to the theater and high society in London; (3) her religious re-awakening and work alongside William Wilberforce and others for the abolition of slavery; (4) her work to improve living conditions for the lower-classes, particularly in the creation of Sunday schools so that poor children could learn to read; and (5) her work more broadly as a reformer for the rights of the lower classes and women.

Stuttering Progress

While the account of her upbringing is not a page-turner, the explanation for her remaining single all her life is. More was thrice jilted by her wealthy fiancée, William Turner. A cousin to two students at the school run by More and her sisters, Turner supported and even celebrated her early literary work: "During their courtship, Turner provided More with a 'room of her own' in which to write in the form of a cottage named after her. He further supported her writing by posting some of More's poems engraved onto wooden plaques placed around the grounds of his estate" (32). Yet for as much as he did for her, Turner also backed out of his engagement, "not once, not twice, but three times" (34).

Much of More's early life was beset with such stuttering progress: her father gave her more education than most girls of that time received, but refused to give her a complete one, such as was given to males; her family was not impoverished but also not upper-class; her job as a teacher provided her with fulfilling work but in some ways slowed her progress as a writer. It was not until after she wrote a play intended for students at the school that her literary career began to take off.

Some of the best chapters in Prior's biography concern More's life in London among literary and social elites. Most fascinating is the relationship between More and the famed author and lexicographer Samuel -Johnson. Although Prior does not believe the two had a sexual relationship, in part because Johnson was nearly 35 years More's senior, she does describe what was obviously a very flirtatious friendship. Johnson gave More the support she needed to establish herself among the literati of London, and More often returned the sharp wit for which Johnson was widely known.

More did not, however, have a good relationship with Johnson's close confidant and biographer, James Boswell. She once rebuked an -inebriated Boswell for speaking inappropriately. What he said to prompt her censure has not been recorded, but whether deserved or not, her rebuke so angered Boswell that he all but elided More from his biography of Johnson, even though she remained an important friend and ally of the latter for years.

Abolition & Other Social Causes

Boswell's antipathy aside, More initially enjoyed city life, especially since London had excellent theaters at which she could see her plays performed and watch her eventual close friend David Garrick act. At length, however, she found London and its people rather depraved or indifferent, and she returned to her Christian faith with new vigor. Her refreshed sense of Christian piety occurred simultaneously with a newfound desire for social reform, specifically the abolition of chattel slavery.

Continue Reading

---