Hannah Griffitts: An Introduction

Hannah Griffitts | American Female Poets of the 18th Century

Hannah Griffitts was a young writer from Philadelphia. She was a quaker and active writer. Her quaker beliefs often had influence on her writing as well as many patriotic discussions. She never became married and spent her life caring for various female family members. 

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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 though...
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What Should Women Do? An analysis of Hannah Griffitts' poem "The Female Patriots"

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Hannah Griffitts was a well known writer who used her platform to discuss various political topics. In her poem The Female Patriots  she makes a call for her fellow women. What is this call you may ask? She asked for her fellow women in the time of outrageous taxation from Britain to the colonies to take action and use their political voices in the ways they could such as boycotting the goods that had the lofty taxes. This is evident inn the following lines:  Griffitts' call to action was one of peace which can be tied back to her quaker beliefs. Simply protesting and boycotting the actions and the goods from Britain was her use of her political voice, which also worked as a way of encouragement for her fellow women. Her point in the lines above prove that their patriotism was shown through their actions and they could make a difference in ways other than combat as some of the revolutionists were anticipating. 
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