Anna Laetitia Barbauld

Hymn to Content

HYMN to CONTENT.
——————————— natura beatis

Claudian epigraph

From Roman poet Claudian: 'Nature has given all men the means to be happy, if they only knew how to use them.' Sets up the poem's argument that contentment is available to everyone.

Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti.
Claudian.
O Thou, the Nymph with placid eye!
O seldom found, yet ever nigh!
Receive my temperate vow:
Not all the storms that shake the pole
Can e'er disturb thy halcyon soul,

halcyon soul

Halcyon = kingfisher bird, linked to calm seas in Greek myth. The bird supposedly calmed winter storms to nest—so 'halcyon days' means peaceful weather.

And smooth unalter'd brow.
O come, in simplest vest array'd,
With all thy sober cheer display'd
To bless my longing sight;
Thy mien compos'd, thy even pace,
Thy meek regard, thy matron grace,
And chaste subdued delight.
No more by varying passions beat,
O gentle guide my pilgrim feet
To find thy hermit cell;
Where in some pure and equal sky
Beneath thy soft indulgent eye
The modest virtues dwell.

attic vest

Attic = Athenian. Classical Greek simplicity was the 18th-century aesthetic ideal—plain, elegant, rational. Barbauld dresses abstract virtues in Greek costume.

Simplicity in attic vest,
And Innocence with candid breast,
And clear undaunted eye;
And Hope, who points to distant years,
Fair opening thro' this vale of tears
A vista to the sky.
There Health, thro' whose calm bosom glide
The temperate joys in even tide,
That rarely ebb or flow;
And Patience there, thy sister meek,
Presents her mild, unvarying cheek
To meet the offer'd blow.
Her influence taught the Phrygian sage

Phrygian sage

Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher who was born a slave in Phrygia. His master once twisted his leg; Epictetus calmly warned it would break, then said 'I told you so' when it did.

A tyrant master's wanton rage
With settled smiles to meet:
Inur'd to toil and bitter bread
He bow'd his meek submitted head,
And kiss'd thy fainted feet.
But thou, oh Nymph retir'd and coy!

brown hamlet

'Brown' = humble, rustic, unfashionable. Content lives in villages, not fashionable London. Notice the class politics—virtue belongs to the 'lowliest.'

In what brown hamlet dost thou joy
To tell thy tender tale;
The lowliest children of the ground,
Moss-rose, and violet blossom round,
And lily of the vale.
O say what soft propitious hour
I best may chuse to hail thy power,
And court thy gentle sway?
When Autumn, friendly to the Muse,

Autumn, friendly to the Muse

Autumn was considered the contemplative season for poets—harvest done, winter coming, nature in decline. The season of mature reflection, not spring's passion.

Shall thy own modest tints diffuse,
And shed thy milder day.

dewy star

The evening star, Venus/Hesperus. Appears when dew falls—the transitional moment between day and night, activity and rest.

When Eve, her dewy star beneath,
Thy balmy spirit loves to breathe,
And every storm is laid;
If such an hour was e'er thy choice,
Oft let me hear thy soothing voice
Low whispering thro' the shade.

Low whispering

The poem ends with quiet, not triumph. Content doesn't shout—it whispers. Notice how the final image matches the virtue: subdued, gentle, barely audible.

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Hymn Form and Religious Substitution

Barbauld calls this a hymn but addresses Content, not God—a bold move in 1773. The 18th century loved personification (turning abstractions into characters), but Barbauld goes further: she builds an entire devotional structure around a secular virtue. Notice the religious vocabulary: 'vow,' 'hermit cell,' 'pilgrim feet,' 'kiss'd thy sainted feet.' She's creating a religion of temperance.

The poem's structure mimics a prayer: invocation (stanzas 1-3), catalog of virtues (stanzas 4-6), and petition (final stanzas). But watch what she does with Christian hope—> 'Hope, who points to distant years, / Fair opening thro' this vale of tears / A vista to the sky.' The traditional Christian 'vale of tears' gets a rational makeover: hope isn't supernatural salvation but distant earthly improvement seen through perspective.

CONTEXT Barbauld was a prominent Dissenter (Protestant nonconformist) who ran a boys' school and wrote radical political essays. Her religious background shows in the hymn form, but her Enlightenment rationalism shows in what she worships: not divine grace but cultivated emotional control.

Stoicism for Women

The Epictetus reference is the poem's hinge. Barbauld invokes the slave-philosopher who endured torture with 'settled smiles'—the ultimate Stoic. But notice the gender switch: Epictetus learned from Patience, Content's 'sister meek' with her 'mild, unvarying cheek / To meet the offer'd blow.' Barbauld feminizes Stoic philosophy.

CONTEXT Women in 1773 had almost no legal rights—couldn't own property if married, couldn't vote, limited educational access. Barbauld's poem can be read two ways: (1) a survival guide teaching women to endure powerlessness with grace, or (2) a subtle critique, showing that women's 'virtue' is really enforced passivity. The phrase 'kiss'd thy sainted feet' applied to patient endurance of a 'tyrant master's wanton rage' is either admirable or disturbing depending on your reading.

Notice the domestic imagery: Content lives in 'brown hamlets' among 'moss-rose, and violet'—the 'lowliest children of the ground.' Barbauld locates virtue in humble, feminine spaces (gardens, villages) versus masculine public spheres. The evening setting of the final stanza reinforces this: 'When Eve, her dewy star beneath, / Thy balmy spirit loves to breathe.' Content appears at dusk, in private, whispering—not in daylight's public discourse.

The poem's aesthetic matches its ethics: 'temperate,' 'sober,' 'modest,' 'subdued.' Even nature appears in 'modest tints' during autumn's 'milder day.' Barbauld argues for emotional temperature control—'temperate joys in even tide, / That rarely ebb or flow.' This is rationalist psychology: wild passions make you miserable, so cultivate steady-state contentment. Revolutionary for suggesting women should manage their own emotional lives through reason, not divine intervention.