The role of animals in the poetry of Anna Barbauld, Robert Burns, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century poets concentrated some of their creative energies into poetry in which animals are used to comment on human experience. Such poets as Anna Barbauld, Robert Burns, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge employ images of animals for social and political commentary as well as individual and private psychological exploration. All four poets comment on why and how animals are significant in a human context, exploring the larger political and social concerns symbolized by animal misfortune, and simultaneously drawing (sometimes unintentionally) attention to animal welfare.