Bernard Barton, traditionally known as the "Quaker Poet," achieved popular recognition during the early 1820s through the publication of several volumes of moralistic verse. His literary output declined after 1828, but his popularity with the general public remained for some time, stimulating the collection of some of his poems and letters in 1849, shortly after his death. Barton's critical reputation declined in the century after his death to the point that Ian Jack, in volume 10 of the Oxford History of English Literature (1963), could state that "the worthlessness of Bernard Barton's work is no longer in dispute." Barton's enduring value lies in the facts that his poetry was, however, warmly received by the public and that through much of his life he carried on personal correspondence with several well-known literary figures, including Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, Edward FitzGerald, James Hogg, Capel Lofft, and George Gordon, Lord Byron.

Barton was born at...