|
Date: |
|
Description: | This copy of 'The Rights of Woman' was sent by Burns to Mrs Graham of Fintry on 5th January 1793 with a note (letter no 531) appended at the end of the poem. Burns wrote the lines as a prologue to be spoken by the actress Miss Fontenelle on her benefit night on November 26th 1792.
Louisa Fontenelle was a touring London actress who attracted Burns' attention when he saw her performance at the Dumfries theatre in 1792/3. He wrote to her afterwards (letter no 519) on 22nd November applauding her charms and offering her the enclosed lines to use on her benefit night.
In this first page Burns, perhaps dangerously, cites 'the rights of man', but immediately turns our attention to women's rights, of protection and decorum not currently in fashion. He also points to men's boorish behaviour as upsetting to women. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | Burns Monument Trust | Temporal: | 1792-01-01 - 1792-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Poem by Robert Burns: 'The rights of Wom | Go to resource |
|
|