ANNE FINCH- COUNTESS OF WINCHILSEA

ANNE FINCH-THE COUNTESS OF WINCHILSEA

In her A Room of one’s own Virginia Woolf mentioned a few women writers who made

the road smooth for her to stride on.She asserts that since her predecessors initiated the change to

break the stereotypes, writing became a piece of cake for her. Perhaps one of the first women who

tilted her pen towards the emancipation of women from the fetters of Patriarchy was Anne Finch.The

question is-What has an Eighteenth Century poetess to do with our present reality?Currently most

women enjoy the privileges to speak,to write ,to dress as they please and even to raise their voices

against injustice.But this is a very recent development!The result of centuries long revolution and

rebellion!There was a time when women were barred from literary circles and labeled hysteric when

they attempted to transgress the boundaries.But then comes a Countess who was brave enough to

voice her love,agony,loss and devotion in the midst of political and social neglect.When the world

turned a deaf ear to her sorrow she took refuge in Poetry.She was the pioneer in the genre of

Women’s Writing.Every woman who converts her pen into sword and her blood into ink owes this

liberty to Anne Finch!So it’s high time we included her in our literary discussions. Anne Kingsmill Finch was born as the third child to Sir.William Kingsmill and Anne

Haslewood in 1661.Her progressive father insisted on educating his daughters along with his son but

little did he know at that time that his little one would become an accomplished writer who could

anticipate path breaking movements for the liberation of women.Her poetry burgeoned when she

was at the threshold of her youth and got married to Colonel Heneage Finch.Obviously the devoted

wife penned interminable love poems for her beloved husband.She overtly professed her love for her

husband in the poem To A Husband: “This is to the crown and blessing of my life, The much loved husband of a happy wife;

To him whose constant passion found the art

To win a stubborn and ungrateful heart.” The last couplet is a confession wherein she admits the indifference vented out against his incessant

courting but eventually she couldn’t help yielding to Love!Their marriage was an enduring one.

The

Finchs were staunch supporters of The Stuart Dynasty and remained loyal to the clan forever.Anne

Finch resigned from her job after marriage but Heneage Finch continued in the court even after the

ascension of James II.They unconditionally supported James II in his onerous reign and maintained

constant allegiance to him. Our contemporary French Feminist writer and theorist Helene Cixous echos Anne Finch

in myriad ways.She begins her seminal essay The Laugh of the Medusa with a solicitation for women

to write

“Woman must write herself:must write about women and bring women to writing,from which

they have been driven away as violently as from their bodies.” Helene Cixous urges women to write.Only women know their political and personal struggles,their

untold emotions and the unfathomable depths of their mind and body.Nothing should thwart their

pens in motion.This is true of Anne Finch who expressed her inexplicable turmoil with invincible

ardour irrespective of the censure placed on Women in the court.Maids in the courts were not

allowed to write and attempts towards this accomplishment were treated with utmost hostility and

reproach.But Finch was too determined to compromise on her verse!She employed the pseudonym

‘ Ardelia’ and wrote incognito.It is said that her husband was the one who changed her literary name

from ‘Areta’ to ‘Ardelia.’ Eventually after Queen Anne ascended to throne,Anne Finch was able to

publish her works under her own name. Anne was a bit reluctant in publishing her works owing to

the belligerent treatment vented against writing women.This issue was raised in her poem The

Introduction

“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.”

These lines talk of two discordant texts -works written by women and those written by

men.Theoretically Elaine Showalter termed them Gynotexts and Androtexts respectively.This poem is

a scathing critique of the age old notion that Writing is a man’s occupation and every woman who

attempts writing is an intruder or an invader in a man’s realm.According to Showalter,the shift from

Androtexts to Gynotexts was brought about in 1970s and with the arrival of Gynocriticism which is a novel approach to female creativity and expression,the view that Women’s writing is insipid and

imbecile has changed.

Anne Finch was not always well composed, ever and anon she fell apart.Her poems The Spleen and

Ardelia to Melancholy vividly reflect her distorted temperament.In the Ancient,Medieval and

surprisingly in Modern Period also there was a pervasive belief that a person’s behaviour is

determined by the four humours in his body viz..Blood,Phlegm,Choler(Yellow Bile) and Melancholy

(Black Bile).This has been elucidated in Ben Jonson’s Everyman Out of his Humour.The person in

whom all of the humours are balanced would be hale and hearty.Black Bile was responsible for

Melancholia which eventually leads to the mental instability of the person with all the

chaos,depression and Hysteria.Hysteria was mostly associated with women since etymologically it’s a

derivative of the Greek word ‘ Hyster ’which means ‘ womb.’During Finch’s time whenever a woman

suffered from inexplicable mental or emotional affliction,she would be labeled as hysteric.Perhaps

this concept is a contribution of Greece where we have the eccentric concept of ‘wandering

womb’.Their strong conviction was that womb which had the ability to move hither and thither

caused most of the maladies in women.In The Spleen, Finch overtly talks of depression.It is an

incredible metaphoric poem where Hysteria is presented with all its terror and spectre like image.

“What art thou,SPLEEN,which ev’ry thing dost ape?

……….Trembling sometimes thou dost appear, Dissolv’d into a Panick Fear;

On Sleep intruding dost thy Shadows spread, Thy gloomy Terrours round the silent Bed, And croud with boarding Dreams the Melancholy Head:

Men ascribe all eccentric maladies to women and they are obliged to internalize these impractical

aspects and had to subject themselves to the improbable treatment given them by men by inflicting

pain upon themselves.In a similar poem entitled Ardelia to Melancholy ,Finch’s helplessness is

depicted and she portrays herself as a vanquished combatant.Her incessant struggle to come out of

Melancholia and her subsequent failure is shown here.

 “At last my old inveterate foe,

 No opposition shalt thou know.

 Since I by struggling,can obtain

Nothing,but encrease of pain.

 Another concept of Feminism anticipated by Anne Finch is the Ideology of Sisterhood popularized by

Second Wave Feminists like Robin Morgan.Sisterhood is a sort of Fraternity shared by women to

support eachother in their struggle against Phallocentric Patriarchal Society.In her Friendship between

Ephelia and Ardelia,Finch strikingly explores the profound bond shared by women wherein they

stand by each other in thick and thin contributing to each other’s welfare and their determination to

remain steadfast at the face of crisis

 “Eph.What Friendship is,ARDELIA shew. Ard.’Tis to love,as I love You. …..’

Tis to die upon a Grave,If a friend therin do lie.

A close scrutiny of Finch’s poems from a Feminist vantage point will make the strong feminist

undertones running through here poems conspicuous.Though Finch was not able to enjoy cherished

recognition during her lifetime,her works have been recovered and canonized during the Twentieth

century.

Her relevance transcends Eighteenth Century and continues into Twenty First Century!The

universality of her themes and genuine narration of her feminine experiences account for her

enduring popularity !We can undoubtedly say that Anne Finch’s poems are Epitome of Feminine Experience and embodiment of Female Psyche!

 -Santhwana Thomas