This essay traces the publication history and reception of Anna Seward’s Monody on Major André and considers its impact on Anglo-American literary history and cultural memory. By marking the deepening ideological rift between Britain and America, Seward’s Monody and the many literary works that followed it captured a feeling of conflicted loyalties by rallying both British patriotism and American sympathy. Paradoxically, by remembering André’s death collectively, these works of transatlantic literary mourning can be seen to mark both a moment of political rupture and a reunification of divided Anglo-American culture.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.