Altering Behaviours Through Poetry: An Analysis Of Select Poems By Mary Ann Lamb

Abstract

Mary Ann Lamb is a writer and the sister of Charles Lamb, had written poems for children, dealt with various themes, and contributed to mould a child’s behaviour. Years before her literary career Mary, on 22 September 1796 in a sudden outburst of psychotic wrath stabbed Elizabeth Lamb her mother, to death with a kitchen knife. Charles dedicated himself to the care of his sister. Mary though a dutiful daughter spent her whole life in the ins and outs of madhouses due to the recurring fits of mania throughout her life. This paper intends to seek to finds how Mary had written poetry to make children avoid anger and laziness. The poems taken for analysis are “Anger”, and “Why not do it, Sir, To-day?” from the poetry collection Poetry for Children.