Works in ECPA

• SONG.; Stella and Flavia.
• Apollo's Edict.
• An Apology for my Son to his Master, for not bringing an Exercise on the Coronation Day.
• An Apology for the Clergy, who were present when the Minister of the Parish read Prayers and preach'd twice in one Day, at Tunbridge-Wells. Written at the Request of a Layman.
• An Apology to Dr. Clayton, Bishop of Killala, and his Lady, who had promis'd to dine with the Author.
• An Apology to the Earl of Orrery, Dr. Swift, and some others of my Friends, for falling into Tears before them, on my leaving Ireland.
• An Apology written for my Son to his Master, who had commanded him to write Verses on the Death of the late Lord —.
• An Apology written for my Son to the Reverend Mr. Sampson, who had invited some Friends to celebrate Lord Carteret's Birth-Day, at Mount-Carteret near Dublin; and desir'd my Son to write on that Occasion.
• By a Person of Quality.
• Conclusion of a Letter to the Rev. Mr. C—.
• The Earl's Answer, written extempore.
• An Epigram on the Battle of the Books.
• An Epigram on the same Occasion.
• An EPIGRAM.
• Epilogue to a Comedy acted at Bath, where the Dutchess of Ormond was present.
• [more]

Biographical note

Irish poet Mary Barber, who is of unknown parentage, was probably born in Dublin c. 1685. She married Rupert Barber (d. 1777?), a Dublin woollen draper, c. 1705. Four of her children survived infancy, among them her son Constantine (b. 1714), later MD and president of the Royal College of Physicians. In the 1720s, Barber began publishing poems in Dublin (anonymously), which brought her to the attention of the poet Thomas Tickell and the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Carteret. She eventually entered Swift's circle, coming to know Patrick Delany, Constantia Grierson, and Laetitia Pilkington among others. Swift and his friends actively supported Barber's poetic ambitions. With Swift's support, she travelled between Ireland and England several times in the early 1730s, visiting London, Tunbridge Wells, and Bath, to raise subscriptions for the publication of her poems. In 1734, her single volume of poetry, Poems on Several Occasions, was published, with a prefatory letter by Swift and a list of over 900 subscribers. It was reprinted in 1735 and 1736. The volume also included poems by Grierson, Elizabeth Rowe, Constantine Barber, and others. Many of Barber's poems are domestic in nature, concerned with the upbringing of her children, motherhood, friendship, and marriage, frequently with an ironic or satirical comment on wider social issues. Barber suffered from ill health and after her return to Ireland, she wrote and published very little. She died on 14 June 1755.

Bibliography

DMI 1269; ODNB 1332

Editions

• Tucker, Bernard, ed. The poetry of Mary Barber ?1690-1757. Lewiston, NY; Queenston, Ont.; Lampeter: E. Mellen Press, 1992. Print.

Reference

• Baines, Paul, Julian Ferraro, Pat Rogers, eds. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing, 1660-1789. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. 15-16. Print.

Criticism

• Backscheider, Paula. Inverting the image of Swift's 'Triumfeminate'. Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies 4:1 (2004): 37-71. Print.
• Budd, Adam. 'Merit in distress': the troubled success of Mary Barber. Review of English Studies 53:210 (2002): 204-27. Print.
• Elias, A. C. Editing minor writers: the case of Laetitia Pilkington and Mary Barber. 1650-1850 3 (1997): 129-47. Print.
• Fanning, Christopher. The Voices of the Dependent Poet: the case of Mary Barber. Women's Writing 8:1 (2001): 81-97. Web. 19 Jan. 2017. http://post.queensu.ca/~cjf1/Mary%20Barber.pdf
• Janssen, Anke. Frühe Lyrikerinnen des 18. Jahrhunderts in ihrem Verhältnis zur Poetik und zur 'Poetic Diction'. Anglia: Zeitschrift für Englische Philologie 99:1-2 (1981): 111-113. Print.
• O'Flaherty, Emily. Patrons, Peers and Subscribers: The Publication of Mary Barber's Poems on Several Occasions (1734). Univ. Diss. Galway: National University of Ireland, 2013. Web. 20 Jan. 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10379/4274
• Tucker, Bernard. Swift's 'Female Senate': Three Forgotten Poets. Irish Studies Review 7 (1994): 7-10. Print.
• Tucker, Bernard. 'Our chief poetess': Mary Barber and Swift's circle. Canadian Journal of Irish Studies 19:2 (1993): 31-44. Print.