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Anne Kingsmill Finch [1661-1720] ENG
Ranked #247 in the top 380 poets
Votes 56%: 10 up, 8 down

Restoration era, Augustan period. 

Work reflecting upon nature and finding both an emotional and religious relationship to it in her verse, consequentially commenting on the change in philosophical and political policy of the time.

Personal, intimate style.

Works often express a desire for respect as a female poet, lamenting her difficult position as a woman in the literary establishment and the court, while writing of "political ideology, religious orientation, and aesthetic sensibility". Mental and spiritual equality of the genders and the importance of women fulfilling their potential as a moral duty to themselves and to society.

Anne Kingsmill was born in April, 1661, the third child of Sir William Kingsmill and Anne Haslewood. Sir William died only 5 months after Anne`s birth.  At the age of twenty-three, she went to the court of Charles II as a maid of honor (attendant) to the duchess of York. She married one of the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber, but both she and her husband were forcibly retired when James II was deposed. After two years, her husband inherited a title and an estate in the Kentish countryside. From the safety of a private country house, Finch bravely published a volume of her poetry, despite the mockery that she received as an aristocratic woman writer.One of the earliest published women poets in England. Her poetry sparkles with witty commentary and playful humour. She writes with clear conviction of what she sees and experiences. Her voice is direct, personal and immediate. It has been suggested that she may be the best woman poet in England prior to the nineteenth century. 

Miscellany Poems, on Several Occasions was the only major collection of Anne Finch`s work to appear in her lifetime. The Poems of Anne, Countess of Winchilsea edited by Myra Reynolds in 1903, contained both the poems of 1713, and various others from manuscript sources, and has been the recognized collection of her work for many years. Only recently has The Wellesley Manuscript come to light, with 53 previously unpublished poems, many written in the last two decades of Anne Finch`s life

Bibliography and picture source: Celebration of Women Writers

Formalism, Bipolar disorder, Enlightenment

YearsCountryPoetInteraction
1640-1689
ENG
Aphra Behn
→ influenced Anne Kingsmill Finch
1770-1850
ENG
William Wordsworth
→ (nature) praised Anne Kingsmill Finch
1664-1721
ENG
Matthew Prior
← friend of Anne Kingsmill Finch
1667-1745
IRL
Jonathan Swift
← friend of Anne Kingsmill Finch
1688-1744
ENG
Alexander Pope
← friend of Anne Kingsmill Finch


WorkLangRating
The Tree
eng
3
A Nocturnal Reverie
eng
1
Consolation
eng
1
Hope
eng
1
The Atheist And The Acorn
eng
1
The Man Bitten By Fleas
eng
1
The Petition For An Absolute Retreat
eng
1
The Wit And The Beau
eng
1
"Trail all your pikes..."
eng
0
A Contemplatio
eng
0
A Description Of One Of The Pieces Of Tapistry At Long-Leat
eng
0
A Letter To Dafnis April: 2d 1685
eng
0
A Letter ToThe Same Person
eng
0
A Miller, His Son, And Their Ass
eng
0
A Pastoral Dialogue Between Two Shepherdesse
eng
0
A Poem For The Birth-Day Of The Right Honble The Lady Catharine Tufton
eng
0
A Song
eng
0
A Suplication For The Joys Of Heaven
eng
0
A Tale Of The Miser And The Poet
eng
0
Adam Pos`d
eng
0
Alcidor
eng
0
All Is Vanity
eng
0
An Apology For My Fearfull Temper
eng
0
An Epistle From A Gentleman To Madam Deshouliers
eng
0
An Epistle From Alexander To Hephaestion In His Sickness
eng
0
An Invitation To Dafnis
eng
0
Ardelia To Melancholy
eng
0
Cupid And Folly
eng
0
Democritus And His Neighbors
eng
0
Enquiry After Peace
eng
0
Fanscomb Barn
eng
0
For The Better
eng
0
Fragment
eng
0
Fragment At Tunbridge-We
eng
0
Friendship Between Ephelia And Ardelia
eng
0
From The First Act Of The Aminta Of Tasso
eng
0
Glass
eng
0
In Praise Of Writing Letters
eng
0
Jealousy
eng
0
Jupiter And The Farmer
eng
0
La Passion Vaincue
eng
0
Life`s Progress
eng
0
Love, Death, And Reputation
eng
0
Man`s Injustice Towards Providence
eng
0
Mercury And The Elephant
eng
0
Moral Song
eng
0
Mussulman`s Dream
eng
0
On Myselfe
eng
0
On The Death Of The Honourable Mr. James Thynne
eng
0
On The Death Of The Queen
eng
0
On The Hurricane
eng
0
Part Of The Fifth Scene In The Second Act Of Athalia
eng
0
Psalm The 137th Paraphras`d To The 7th Verse
eng
0
Reformation
eng
0
Song
eng
0
The Apology
eng
0
The Battle Between The Rats And The Weazles
eng
0
The Bird And The Arras
eng
0
The Brass-Pot And Stone-Jugg
eng
0
The Cautious Lovers
eng
0
The Change
eng
0
The Critick And The Writer Of Fables
eng
0
The Decision Of Fortune
eng
0
The Dog And His Master
eng
0
The Eagle, The Sow, And The Cat
eng
0
The Equipage
eng
0
The Executor
eng
0
The Hog, The Sheep, And Goat, Carrying To A Fair
eng
0
The House Of Socrates
eng
0
The Hymn
eng
0
The Introduction
eng
0
The King And The Shepherd
eng
0
The Lord And The Bramble
eng
0
The Lyon And The Gnat
eng
0
The Man And His Horse
eng
0
The Marriage Of Edward Herbert Esquire, And Mrs. Elizabeth Herbert
eng
0
The Mussulman`s Dream Of The Vizier And Dervis
eng
0
The Owl Describing Her Young Ones
eng
0
The Philosopher,
eng
0
The Phoenix
eng
0
The Poor Man`s Lamb
eng
0
The Prevalence Of Custom
eng
0
The Shepherd And The Calm
eng
0
The Shepherd Piping To The Fishes
eng
0
The Spleen
eng
0
The Tradesman And The Scholar
eng
0
The Unequal Fetters
eng
0
The Young Rat And His Dam, The Cock And The Cat
eng
0
There`s No To-Morrow
eng
0
Three Songs
eng
0
To A Husband
eng
0
To Death
eng
0
To Edward Jenkinson, Esq
eng
0
To Mr. F. Now Earl Of W
eng
0
To Silvia
eng
0
To The Nightingale
eng
0
To The Painter Of An Ill-drawn Picture Of Cleone
eng
0
Verses
eng
0

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