Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse is a 1784 oil painting by Joshua Reynolds. Mrs. Sarah Siddons: Sarah Siddons was a well-known actress of the 18th century who became famous for her role as Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth. Born Sarah Kemble, aged 18 she married William Siddons, also an actor, and they had seven children of who only two survived. Sarah's parents sent her to work as a lady's maid and with this job she was exposed to the works of England's literary greats such as Milton and Shakespeare. She also began acting and had
To Mrs Siddons works. Mrs Siddons, as Coleridge refers to her, was an actress that he became aware of during his college years. In his letters to his childhood friend Mary Evans, Coleridge would mention various performances that he witnessed when he would slip into London. The sonnet dedicated to her, "To Mrs Siddons", is the eighth poem of Coleridge's "Sonnets on Eminent Characters" series, printed in the 29 December 1794 "Morning Chronicle" as written by Coleridge. However, it is uncertain as to who originally wrote the poem. In a letter written by Lamb in June 1796, he speaks of the poem as