Author: Bannerman, Anne
Biography:
BANNERMAN, Anne (1765-1829: ODNB)
She was born at Edinburgh to William Bannerman and Isobel (Dick) Bannerman. She was encouraged to publish her poetry by Dr Robert Anderson, editor of the Edinburgh Magazine, and she contributed verse to various periodicals before her first collection, Poems, was issued in 1800. It was a critical but not a commercial success and her 1802 Tales of Superstition and Chivalry was accused of obscurity and over-wrought Gothicism. Bannerman never married, and she struggled financially, particularly after the 1803 death of her mother. In 1805 she received £20 from the Royal Literary Fund, and in 1807 friends encouraged her to issue a new, subscription, edition of her poetry. She was briefly a governess to the Beresford family in Exeter but seems to have been unsuited to such work, perhaps on account of ill-health. She died in poverty at Portobello, near Edinburgh. Walter Scott singled out her poems for praise in his 1830 “Essay on Imitations of Ancient Ballads.” (ODNB 20 Feb. 2018; RPW; Andrew Ashfield, ed., Romantic Women Poets, 1788-1848 [1998])
Other Names:
- Miss Bannerman