Newes From The Dead

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By onemorething

Tue, 14 Mar 2023
  • 3891 reads
23 comments
 

The title is from a title of a pamphlet written by Richard Watkins in 1651 which relays an account of the execution of Anne Greene on the 14th December, 1650. She was sentenced to death under a law relating to the deaths of 'bastards' because she had given birth to a stillborn, premature baby and hidden it after she had had sex with the 17 year old son of her master in the house where she was a scullery maid. It's not clear whether she was raped or it was consensual. She was 22 years old and when her secret was discovered she was taken to Oxford gaol and then sentenced to hang. This is despite evidence from midwives that the baby was so premature that it would not have been born alive. This is despite evidence from witnesses that Anne had not known she was pregnant. She did hang, she even asked friends and relatives to hang off her body to make the death swifter. She was beaten with the butt of a musket too. When she arrived with the anatomists in her coffin to be dissected, she was seen to be breathing, she was stamped upon to 'bring death about', but she was still breathing so William Petty, the anatomist, did his best to revive her and she did recover, was pardoned and took her coffin with her as a souvenir of her experience. She moves away, gets married, has three children and dies aged 37. 
 

 

 

 

Anne had not meant to return from the dead,

in fact, she'd asked that if any was a friend of hers

then they'd pull hard on her legs as she swung

on the rope, to hasten the end, because ruddy

and fleshy and vulgar as men had described her,

god knows now, death could not be worse than life.

 

Ah, the advances of an entitled adolescent,

when she is merely scullery, washer, menial,

get thee to a nunnery, skullduggery.

And Anne went on because what else is there

to do except go on, until you are crouched

and bewildered in an outhouse with a stillborn,

which, afraid, you cover with the dust 

that it must have come from. 
 

To gaol with Anne then

for lewdness and murder, 

to the gallows with Anne then

for the foul stain of infanticide, 

but she is only almost dead,

still breathing despite being hung

and stamped upon,

she is only half dead and

revived beneath a dissector's scalpel 

when she tells of a meadow at a riverside 

and the music of angels, and

because there is little else to do, but go on, 

she goes on, and she takes away her coffin as a souvenir.

 

 

Painting is from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giuseppe_Maria_Crespi_-_The_Scullery_Maid_-_WGA5770.jpg

Certificate 15
Poem
Unclassified

Comments

Submitted by marandina on

A tragic and sad story. Hard to imagine the harshness of those kind of laws now. You recount the tale and speak up for the wronged so eloquently. 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you, Paul! Well, perhaps not so explicitly harsh in the West, but still plenty about the law that punishes women as victims, but it's slowly changing, I guess. 

 

Submitted by Ewan on

sure our chums across the pond aren't half-way down that primrose path after the repeal of Roe vs Wade.

Fine poem Rachel.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by onemorething on

Yes, disconcerting ain't it. Thanks Ewan. 

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

it was sadly quite common for servants to be treated as less than human, though I note you say it isn't known if it was consensual. l'm fairly sure too there was no punishment for the son of the house.

Anyway though, what an extraordinary ending and how bizarre that she kept the coffin. I hope her remaining years were kinder to her than the earlier ones.

She fully deserves to be celebrated as you've done so beautifully in this poem - thank you onemore!

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Yes, I don't think the son of the house was punished at all. And consent is a tricky one because of her status, I would say not, but accounts I've read have made a point of mentioning that this is an unknown. But...

She kept her coffin and I believe used it as a means of making money to tell her story which if I remember correctly may have helped pay the fees to get her pardoned. But my memory is very faulty so would need to go back and check for sure. 

 

Submitted by celticman on

ghoulish and fascinating. No wonder I fucking hate Downtown Abbey. (sorry ranting). 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Couldn't agree more. 

 

Submitted by Mark Burrow on

I've never heard of this story before. The detail about hastening the end is especially grim as I guess it was known by people that the condemned were often still alive after the drop. Very evocative and deftly put together -- the coffin as a sovenir at the the end is perfect.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Yes, it is really gruesome, I think when the long drop (I think it's called) was used in the C19th, this was no longer necessary, guess it was a little like people throwing explosives on the flames when people were burnt at the stake. And yes, I love that she took her coffin with her. 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

This made me think of Teodora Vasquez in El Salvador, recently released early from 30 year sentence after a stillbirth. Greene is a perfect surname, she sounds like a plant which will not die no matter what is done to it, cutting it down, stamping on it to make a righteous path, poisoning with lies and fake faith. She sounds very resourceful, think what she could have been had she lived today!

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Yes, it was her resilience that touched me and that sense that whatever befalls us, we go on. 

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

A very sad account of how a poor woman suffered so badly. Your poem said it all.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks for reading it, Jenny. :) 

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

Can't believe I've never heard of her before. An amazing story. I hope she found happiness in the years she reclaimed from all that brutality.

Submitted by onemorething on

I sense she did, she got pardoned and married and was supported by her father, certainly. I must look up what she said before she was hung again because I think she defended herself. 

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

This wonderful piece is our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day! Please do share/retweet if you enjoy it too.

Submitted by onemorething on

Oh wow, thanks so much! A lovely surprise for my mostly dark tale. 

 

Submitted by D G Moody on

Sure, we may be up manure creek without a paddle in so many ways, but at least we are beginning to recognise that women should be treated with complete equality. And if anyone ever says to me 'the good old days' ....I jest want to git ma gurn!!

A good poem, well done

Dougie Moody

Submitted by Ewan on

Congratulations and well done.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thrilling to hear of her survival. Hopefully it did make some think more carefully. Would be good to know more of her subsequent life!

I can't see any relation to the repeal of Roe v Wade though as there doesn't seem to have been any evidence that she killed or tried to kill her baby. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Ewan on

but as the pamphlet says that was effectively what she was accused of. If you can't see the parallels with what is happening in the USA, that worries me.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by jeand on

This is such an unbelievable story - not in the cruelty but in the fact that she recovered and went on to do what life gave her.  But what a story.

Jean Day