Stuart Curran, as editor of Smith's poems, has written that she is "the first poet in England whom in retrospect we would call Romantic". She helped shape the "patterns of thought and conventions of style" for the period and was responsible for rekindling the sonnet form in England. She influenced popular Romantic poets of her time such as, William Wordsworth and John Keats. Wordsworth, the leading Romantic poet, believed that Smith wrote "with true feeling for rural nature, at a time when nature was not much regarded by English Poets".[B] He also stated in the 1830s that she was "a lady to whom English verse is under greater obligations than are likely to be either acknowledged or remembered."[3] By the mid-19th century, however, Smith was largely forgotten.[11] Smith was respected also for her ten novels, publishing works in a variety of genres. These include Gothic, revolutionary, educational, epistolary but always incorporating the novel of sensibility.[7] Although they have yet to receive any "critical attention" today, Smith was famous for children's books she wrote in her writing period.[B] Smith is noted as one of the most popular poets of her time. One of the first poets to receive a salary, Henry James Pye claimed Smith was "[excelled] in two species of composition so different as the novel and the sonnet, and whose powers are so equally capable of charming the imagination, and awakening the passions."[B]
Smith is known for striving to produce her writing at the same level and expectation as Anna Barbauld and famous political economist, Francis Edgeworth. The inspiration she received in the 17th century from these writers helped her build an audience and dominate in certain genres. Smith was notorious for not only expressing her personal and emotional struggles but also for the anxiety and complications she faced when it came to meeting deadlines, mailing out completed volumes, and payment advancements. She was keen in persuading her publishers to work with her issues. Smith would submit final drafts in exchange for "food, lodging, and expenses for her children".[7] Other publishers willing to negotiate with Smith throughout her career as a writer were Thomas Cadell the elder, Thomas Cadell the younger, and William Davies. Unfortunately she also struggled with disputes from "various booksellers over copyright, a printer's competence, or the quality of an engraving for an illustration. She would argue that the time was ripe for a second edition of a novel."[7]
Smith "clung to her own sense of herself as a gentlewoman of integrity".[7] The negative sides that Smith claimed to have experienced during the publication process were perceived as self-pity by many publishers of her time, affecting her relationship and reputation with them. Smith's push to be taken seriously and how she emerges as an essential figure of the "Age of Sensibility" is observed in her powerful use of vulnerability. Antje Blank of The Literary Encyclopedia states, "Few exploited fiction's potential of self-representation with such determination as Smith." Her work is defined as "squarely in the cult of sensibility: she believed in the virtue of kindness, in generosity to those less fortunate, and in the cultivation of the finer feelings of sympathy and tenderness for those who suffered needlessly."[7]
Ultimately, "Smith's autobiographical incursions" bridge the old and the new, "older poetic forms and an emerging Romantic voice."[10] Smith was a skillful satirist and political commentator on the condition of England, and this is, I think, the most interesting aspect of her fiction and the one that had most influence on later writers."[10] Oneț felt that Smith's work "rejected an identity defined exclusively by emotionality, matrimony, the family unit, and female sexuality." Overall Smith's career in writing was rejoiced, well perceived and popular until her later years of living. "Smith deserves to be read not simply as a writer whose work demonstrates changes in taste, but as one of the primary voices of her time and a worthy contemporary of the male romantic poets."[9]
Smith's novels reappeared at the end of the 20th century, when critics "interested in the period's women poets and prose writers, the Gothic novel, the historical novel, the social problem novel, and post-colonial studies" argued for her significance as a writer.[3] They concluded that she helped to revitalise the English sonnet, a view found in Coleridge and others. Scott wrote that she "preserves in her landscapes the truth and precision of a painter" and poet. Barbauld claimed that Smith was the first to include sustained natural description in novels.[3] In 2008, Smith's complete prose became available to the general public. The edition contains all her novels, the children's stories and rural walks.[12]
