Poem of the week: The Apology by Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea
Finch defends her daring to practise the male profession of poetry using heroic couplets and subversive jokesThe Apology’Tis true, I write; and tell me by what rule I am alone...
By Carol Rumens · The Guardian Culture
Finch defends her daring to practise the male profession of poetry using heroic couplets and subversive jokes The Apology ’Tis true, I write; and tell me by what rule I am alone forbid to play the fool, To follow through the groves a wandering muse And feigned ideas for my pleasures choose? Why should it in my pen be held a fault, Whilst Myra paints her face, to paint a thought? Whilst Lamia to the manly bumper flies, And borrowed spirits sparkle in her eyes, Why should it be in me a thing so vain To heat with poetry my colder brain? Continue reading...