Anna Young Smith

Her early poetic efforts were encouraged by her aunt, Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, and she went on to circulate her writing within Philadelphia's literary coteries.

[2][4] Fergusson hosted a weekly salon at Graeme Park, and it was here where Smith was introduced to influential writers as a child.

[3] She began sharing poems within Philadelphia's literary circles in 1773 having adopted the pseudonym "Sylvia".

[1] Fergusson's commonplace book records Smith's death, stating "this dear child died April 3, 1780".

[1][2] Smith wrote of her support for the patriot side of the War in Elegy to the Memory of the American Volunteers (1775).

[1] In her poem On Reading Swift's Works, she praises Jonathan Swift's "perfect style" but condemns him for reprimanding "helpless women",[4] writing "Ungenerous bard, whom not e'en Stella's charms / Thy vengeful satire of its sting disarms!