Early Animal Rights Poetry?
Apr. 21st, 2010 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lhskarkaNPR ran a story this morning about a poem written in 1773, supposedly by a young lab assistant who was moved by the plight of the next mornings test subject. Anna Barbauld wrote a poem from the point of view of the lab mouse who was slated for experimentation, and left in the bars of his cage where it could be found the next morning.
NPR story here: Early Animal Rights Poem Discovered: A Mouse's Plea (with super-cute, heart wrenching illustrations - you have been warned)
Full text of the poem here: The Mouse's Petition: Found in the trap where he had been confined all night by Dr. Priestley, for the sake of making experiments with different kinds of air.
Plus, another discussion of the apocryphal origins of the poem: Discussion
And, finally, excerpts from same, for those of you with no time or inclination to click links:
O hear a pensive prisoner's prayer,
For liberty that sighs;
And never let thine heart be shut
Against the wretch's cries!
For here forlorn and sad I sit,
Within the wiry grate;
And tremble at the' approaching morn,
Which brings impending fate.
...
The cheerful light, the vital air,
Are blessings widely given;
Let Nature's commoners enjoy
The common gifts of Heaven.
The well-taught philosophic mind
To all compassion gives;
Casts round the world an equal eye,
And feels for all that lives...
Sadly, the mouse's fate is unknown.
NPR story here: Early Animal Rights Poem Discovered: A Mouse's Plea (with super-cute, heart wrenching illustrations - you have been warned)
Full text of the poem here: The Mouse's Petition: Found in the trap where he had been confined all night by Dr. Priestley, for the sake of making experiments with different kinds of air.
Plus, another discussion of the apocryphal origins of the poem: Discussion
And, finally, excerpts from same, for those of you with no time or inclination to click links:
O hear a pensive prisoner's prayer,
For liberty that sighs;
And never let thine heart be shut
Against the wretch's cries!
For here forlorn and sad I sit,
Within the wiry grate;
And tremble at the' approaching morn,
Which brings impending fate.
...
The cheerful light, the vital air,
Are blessings widely given;
Let Nature's commoners enjoy
The common gifts of Heaven.
The well-taught philosophic mind
To all compassion gives;
Casts round the world an equal eye,
And feels for all that lives...
Sadly, the mouse's fate is unknown.
