While Anna Laetitia Barbauld's poem Eighteen Hundred and Eleven discusses the physical decline of the British Empire, informing Britain that "Yes, thou must droop; thy Midas dream is o'er," (61) Barbauld offers a different form of immortality through, as Francesco Crocco refers to it in his critical essay, "The Colonial Subtext of Anna Letitia Barbauld's Eighteen Hundred and Eleven," cultural imperialism. Indeed, she notes in her last stanza that although "The worm is in thy core, thy glories pass away," (314) "-to other climes the Genius soars" (321). We see this idea expanded upon in Helen Maria Williams' poem Peru, where the bloodthirsty Spaniards colonize Peru and conquer the native Incas. Barbauld mentions Peru specifically in her poem as well, saying that "lo, even now, midst mountains wrapt in storm, / On Andes heights he shrouds his awful form" (323-324). At the time Peru was fighting in the Spanish American wars of independence, through which they sought to escape the tyranny of the Spanish Empire and become an independent entity. Thus Barbauld would seem to be endorsing their fight for independence, or at least criticizing the cruelty of the Spaniards, as she later swears that "thy world, Columbus, shall be free," (334) suggesting that through British culturalization of South America, its people (in this case, Peruvians) would be free from the needs of men like Columbus.
Although not part of the same conversation completely, since Barbauld discusses the culturally significant Britain and Williams ruthless Spain, Peru too seems to take a condemning stance on militarism and greed. However, Williams extends her narrative a bit farther by showing Peru as an already civilized landscape that need not be conquered by any 'culturally superior' powers, which here represented by the Spaniards, are themselves described as savage and barbaric. I found it interesting that Williams reinterpreted some of the historical 'facts' about the meeting between Atahuallpa and Pizarro (although we already know the cultural prejudice inherent in many of these travel narratives) in order to better fit her narrative. Perhaps this indicates Williams' unwillingness to believe and participate in the perpetuation of racial stereotypes.
Williams presents the landscape, animals, and people of Peru as cohesive, fertile, and happy, creating in the poem a beautiful and untouched Eden for her doomed Peruvians. She introduces the "lost Peruvia," where there "rose thy cultur'd scene" (3). As it mentions in the footnotes, by combining elements of civilized society with images of Eden and Paradise Lost, Williams creates a utopia where the fertility of nature and the intellect of man coalesce into something greater. This is a place where from abundant plant life, "Disease, and pain, and hov'ring death retires," (20) where even the bird "...seeks with fond delight the social nest / Parental care has rear'd, and love has blest," (35-36) and where men, "whose origin from glowing suns they trace; / And as o'er nature's form, the solar light / Diffuses beauty, and inspires delight" (58-60). Despite the exoticness of the Peruvian landscape and the Incas 'primitive' worship of the Sun, Williams combines these 'otherly' images in a way that makes them seem rather familiar and even superior to the British way of life. Like 19th century British society (or maybe not), these 16th century Incas form meaningful familial structures, fall passionately in love, have a stable and revered form of government and a matrimonial ceremony built around religious institution. As if to combat Britain's 'Genius' in Barbauld's poem, Williams' too establishes "Peruvia's Genius" (139) to show the unnecessary need for outside imperialism, whether cultural or militaristic. With the introduction of the Spaniards in the second cantos, Williams consistently uses images of blood, metal, and gold to depict, as the footnotes refer to it, "the rape of the virgin landscape" (pg. 57) by the deceptive Pizarro and his men.
For some quick context about the Spanish conquest of the Incan Empire, click here.
Discussion Questions:
1) In what way are Anna Laetitia Barbauld and Helen Maria Williams in conversation with each other on topics such as cultural and militaristic imperialism? On what points do they seem to agree and disagree?
2) How does Williams' interpretation of historical figures and events affect the image and story she wishes to portray?
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