Summary Of The Mouse's Petition By Annie Barbauld

Having previous knowledge on one of Barbauld’s poems titled “The Mouse’s Petition,” it is interesting to read that she actually wrote it after discovering a mouse in the basement of her best friend’s house. It is amazing how the poem can easily adapt and relate to the historical circumstances of the time, as if the intended purpose of Barbauld was to write about women and not laboratory animals. I wonder if Barbauld was trying to purposely write a poem with a double meaning or if she only really did intend to write just about the injustice that occurs to laboratory animals. If she really did mean to write about gender inequality as most people argue, then why would she attach the poem to the cage that contained the mouse?