Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea
Manuscript Poems (pub. 1903): "Introduction"
Nearly 200 years after the publication of Finch’s Miscellany Poems, Myra Reynolds, one of the first generation of modern women scholars, brought out an edition of her works based on the privately circulated manuscript Finch had continued to compose in after the book’s publication (The Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea [Chicago: U Chicago P, 1903]).. The manuscript also included poems Finch had decided not to include in the 1713 edition, some apparently being too personal and others too openly polemical for publication at that time.
"The Introduction" was the prefatory poem to the entire manuscript, coming before "Mercury and the Elephant" and a prose preface. Its publication in 1903 led readers to realize that Finch had intentionally limited her poetic creativity to avoid censure. Among those immediately influenced by this knowledge was the young Virginia Stephen, already writing novels and soon to be married to Leonard Woolf. What does Finch say she fears from her readers, and what effects does she describe from that fear? How might you use this poem to explain some of the sentiments she expresses in "The Spleen"?
The text below is taken from Katharine M. Rogers' now out-of-print edition, Selected Poems of Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (N.Y.: Frederick Ungar, 1979), which is in turn based on Reynolds' edition.
The Introduction
Did I, my lines intend for publick view,
How many censures, wou’d their faults persue,
Some wou’d, because such words they do affect,
Cry they’re insipid, empty, uncorrect.
And many, have attain’d, dull and untaught
The name of Witt, only by finding fault.
True judges, might condemn their want of witt,
And all might say, they’re by a Woman writt.
Alas! a woman that attempts the pen,
Such an intruder on the rights of men,
Such a presumptuous Creature, is esteeme’d,
The fault, can by no vertue be redeem’d.
They tell us, we mistake our sex and way;
Good breeding, fassion, dancing, dressing, play
Are the accomplishments we shou’d desire;
To write, or read or think, or to enquire
Wou’d could our beauty, and exaust out time,
And interrupt the Conquests of our prime;
Whilst the dull mannage, of a servile house
Is held by some, our outmost art, and use.
Sure ‘twas not ever thus, nor are we told
Fables, of Women that excell’d of old;
To whom, by the diffusive hand of Heaven
Some share of witt, and poetry was given
On that glad day, on which the Ark return’d,
The holy pledge, for which the Land had mourn’d,
The joyfull Tribes, attend itt on the way,
The Levites do the sacred Charge convey,
Whilst various Instruments, before itt play;
Here, holy Virgins in the Concert joyn,
The louder notes, to soften, and refine,
And with alternate verse, compleat the Hymn Devine.
Loe! the yong Poet, after Gods own heart,
By Him inspired, and taught the Muses Art,
Return’d from Conquest, a bright Chorus meets,
That sing his slayn ten thousand in the streets.
In such loud numbers they his acts declare,
Proclaim the wonders, of his early war,
That Saul upon the vast applause does frown,
And feels, itts mighty thunder shake the Crown.
What, can the threat’n’d Judgment now prolong?
Half of the Kingdom is already gone;
The fairest half, whose influence guides the rest,
Have David’s Empire, o’re their hearts confess’t.
A Woman here, leads fainting Israel on,
She fights, she wins, she tryumphs with a song,
Devout, Majestick, for the subject fitt,
And far above her arms, exalts her witt,
Then, to the peacefull, shady Palm withdraws,
And rules the rescu’d Nation, with her laws.
How are we fal’n, fal’n by mistaken rules.
And Education’s, more than Nature’s fools,
Debarr’d from all improve-ments of the mind,
And to be dull, expected and designed;
And if some one, wou’d Soar above the rest,
With warmer fancy, and ambition press’t,
So strong, th’ opposing faction still appears,
The hope to thrive, can ne’re outweigh the fears,
Be caution’d then my Muse, and still retir’d;
Nor be dispis’d, aiming to be admir’d;
Conscious of the wants, still with contracted wing,
To some few freinds, and to thy sorrows sing;
For groves of Lawrell, thou wert never meant;
Be dark enough thy shades, and be thou there content.
Notes:
The three events in the Old Testament to which the poem refers include the songs sung to celebrate the arrival in Jerusalem of the Ark of the Covanent (1 Chronicles 15); the victory songs sung to David by the women of Israel (1 Samuel 18); and Deborah’s leading a victorious army against Israel’s enemies and her composition of a victory song (Judges 4-5). In the first instance, Finch appears to have invented the "holy Virgins"’ song, but compare this with Lanyer’s description of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem in "Salve Deus Rex Judæorum." The women’s praise of David also becomes a kind of "audience reception" of his deeds when compared with those of King Saul. Might this also be true of one poet’s song with respect to earlier poets? Deborah is specifically described as valuing more highly her song than her deeds. How might this relate to the long-standing association of poetry with deeds of warfare (cf. Sappho) and how does it alter events when the warrior is a woman?
For comparison of the last ten lines of the Finch's "Introduction" to Milton's invocation of the muse in Paradise Lost, Book 1, click here.