The Mouse's Petition By Anna Barbauld Summary

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“The Mouse’s Petition” “The Mouse’s Petition”, written by Anna Barbauld, main character is a mouse who lives in captivity. The mouse’s capturers perform for experiments. On a deeper level, the poem portrays the social and working conditions of the Romantic Period. Barbauld use of vivid details, diction, symbols, and metaphors allude to both the literal and metaphorical meanings of the poem. The first two lines of “The Mouse’s Petition” sets the tone for the poem. “Oh hear a pensive prisoner’s prayer / For liberty that sighs,” (Barbauld 1-2). “For liberty that sighs,” is an example of personification and also, the line is symbolic. A liberty that sighs makes the reader believe that the freedom is a sadness that will never be obtained. The captive mouse has given up hope of ever being free. Likewise, a woman in a male dominated Romantic society never saw an end to her oppression. This sets the tone, despair or hopelessness, of the poem. …show more content…

“For here forlorn and sad I sit / Within the wiry gate; / And tremble at th’ approaching morn, / Which brings impending fate,” (Barbauld 5-8). In these lines, Barbauld used “morn” as a double entendre because it sounds like “mourn”; however, she intended the word to mean morn, a shorten of the word morning. These lines portray the mouse’s notion, that with the rising sun, she will die. The mouse grieves for the mice who have died previously. Likewise, a woman during this time period could not free themselves from their

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