An Unmarried Woman? In the 1700s, What Was She Thinking?

 Hannah Griffitts was also quite outspoken about her romantic life. She made it clear in one of her poems To Sophronia, which explained her relationship status and her view on romance. She begins the poem with the lines, "I've neither reserve or aversion to man,/ (I assure you Sophronia in Jingle)/ But to keep my dear liberty, long as I can,/ Is the reason I choose to be single," outrightly stating that she is a single woman and that she has no wish to have her freedom as such taken away (Griffitts, lines 1-4). Simply put, Griffitts was a single woman who enjoyed the lifestyle of having nobody to answer to beside herself. 

I find this view on life admirable but it is something that society even now in the 21st century has difficulty accepting. I only expect for it to have been even more unacceptable back in the 1700s. Perhaps though, that is part of the significance of the poem. Griffitts went out of her way to craft a small bit of writing that expresses her unique thoughts about romance. Her credibility as a well-known and bright female writer had a way of playing into the acceptance of her status. 

In way of exposing you to the poem here is a video of a reading that aided in my understanding of the work: 

To Sophronia Reading

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