Representation of Female Poetics in Anne Finch’s Poe

Abstract

Anne Kingsmill Finch, the Countess of Winchelsea (1661-1720), holds an undeniably significant position in the history of women's writing. Although she was among the well-known poets during the 18^th century, Anne Finch has only recently received literary appreciation which she deserves. Instead of complying with the conventions of masculine tradition, and prefers to follow a different path from her contemporaries. She concentrates mainly on the negative stereotypes of women and questions the assumptions of 18^th century masculine poetic conventions. Undermining the socially constructed ideas about female identity, Anne Finch is very outspoken in her critique of male resistance to the poetry of women. In her poetry, Finch courageously demonstrates a challenging attitude to the prejudiced opinions about women's creative poetic capabilities.

Hence, the poetry of Anne Finch which seem to be personal in its exploration of the experiences of a woman poet in the 18^th century, it is in fact, fully embedded with ideological arguments trying to change strongly established conventions of writing in her own time. Therefore, through a detailed analysis of her poetry, the major concern of this paper will be to demonstrate that Anne Finch's poetry is specifically committed to the creation of a consciousness for women writers, distinguishing herself and her poetry from the general trend of her own period which attempts to eliminate women writers from the domain of male writing tradition.