FREE ESSAY ON ANNE FINCHES OPPOSITION TO THE RAPE OF THE LOCK

ANNE FINCHES OPPOSITION TO THE RAPE OF THE LOCK

Anne Finch's Opposition to The Rape of the Lock
The Restoration Period (1660-1700) was a period of social, political and philosophical
turmoil, which laid the foundation for future centuries. This period was marked by an
advance in colonization and trade and by the birth of the Whig and Tory parties. In
poetry, works of Alexander Pope and Anne Finch and a number of other poets distinguishes
the Restoration. But, there are several objections from these poets; one particular
opposition occurs between Pope's The Rape of the Lock and Anne Finch. 
Pope was born into a Catholic family during a period of intense anti-Catholic sentiment
in England. His family was forced to move because Catholics were forbid from living
within a certain area of London at this time. While Pope was growing up, Catholicism
affected his education although there were very few Catholic schools. His life would soon
influence his writing of The Rape of the Lock. The following comes from the Twickenham
Edition of Pope's poem:
The families concerned in the Rape of the Lock - The Fermors, Petres, and
Carylls—were 
prominent members of that group of great intermarried Roman Catholic families owning land
in the home countries. Most of whom came within the circle of Pope's friends and
acquaintances and to whom Pope considered his own family to belong. Some time before 21
March 1712, when Pope sold his poem to Lintott, Robert, Lord Petre had cut off a lock of
Arabella Fermor's hair, and John Caryll had suggested to Pope that he should write a poem
to heal the estrangement that followed between the two families. (Twinckenham 83) 
Alexander Pope is responsible for one of the most comic poems of the eighteenth century,
The Rape of the Lock. This poem was written specifically to resolve a serious falling out
between two leading Catholic families. (The cause of the quarrel was the cutting of a
lock of hair by Lord Petre from the head of Arabella Fermor.) But, this poem also
discussed another theme: the relationship between men and women. The events that Pope
describes in this poem occur between Belinda, who is motivated by pride and vanity and
Baron, who is driven by ambition. Belinda's energy is 
driven to attract a man and pretend to be affectionate and then cast him off for another.
Baron oversteps his boundaries of acceptable behavior by acting with force toward the
desirable woman. The Rape of the Lock is both a scornful description of a ridiculous
social situation and a serious analysis of consequences of flattering self-esteem and
desire. 
The Rape of the Lock is a staple of neoclassical writing; it includes wit and wit is
characterized by parallelism and balance. It contains epic conventions such as war
(between the sexes), epic game (played on the "velvet plain" of the card table), a
journey (to the underworld), and battle. Pope writes by describing the man as the hero.
But Finch writes her poetry in regards to women. 
When Anne Finch wrote, she followed a particularly intellectual course, not only for
women but also for anyone at the time. She wrote about philosophy; her philosophical work
had another important source: her own physical pain. She was concerned to provide
theodicy for her writers. She attempted to reunite the existence of a compassionate or
benign god with the existence of suffering and other evil in the world. Her audience
should be prepared to read 
religious controversy, which is far more intense than other philosophical contemporaries.

Ann Finch may have objected to Pope's The Rape of the Lock because Pope's poem is
impressed by the force of humor and the style serves to exaggerate how ridiculous "war"
is between a man and a woman. In The Rape of the Lock, the laughter and ridicule do not
undermine the importance of good sense and virtue in the relationships between men and
women. Finch disagrees and believes the woman is a heroin in this poem. 
Finch argues that woman rule the race, but men believe that they are the rulers. In most
of Finch's works, she "submerges political conflict in an explicitly female lyric voice"
(DeMaria 201). "Finch creates both female poetry and poetry of abjection out of this
situation- or, rather more accurately, those tangled subjectivies created the abject
female poet out of her" (201). She is comfortable criticizing one of the most powerful
poets in her period (Pope) while "killing him with kindness". 
Pope's belief in Catholicism and Finch's belief in philosophy may have also been a cause
of Finch's objection to The Rape of the Lock. The two writers had different viewpoints
toward religion. Also, Finch may have seen more 
importance in writing about her own pain, while Pope finds it important to write about
others pain. He writes about the pain of Belinda and Baron.
In conclusion, there are several examples, as one can observe, of Finch's objection to
The Rape of the Lock. The life and beliefs of these two authors were entirely different
and this seems to be the major reason Finch may have objected to Pope's poem. 
Works Cited
Cunningham, J.S., ed. The Rape of the Lock. New York: 
Oxford University Press, 1966.
DeMaria, Robert, ed. British Literature. Massachusetts:
Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1999.
Goldgar, Bertrand, ed. Literary Criticism of Alexander 
Pope. New York: University of Nebraska Press, 
1965.
http://users.ox.ac.k/~worc0337/authors/anne.conway.htlm
Anne Finch's Opposition to The Rape of the Lock
The Restoration Period (1660-1700) was a period of social, political and philosophical
turmoil, which laid the foundation for future centuries. This period was marked by an
advance in colonization and trade and by the birth of the Whig and Tory parties. In
poetry, works of Alexander Pope and Anne Finch and a number of other poets distinguishes
the Restoration. But, there are several objections from these poets; one particular
opposition occurs between Pope's The Rape of the Lock and Anne Finch. 
Pope was born into a Catholic family during a period of intense anti-Catholic sentiment
in England. His family was forced to move because Catholics were forbid from living
within a certain area of London at this time. While Pope was growing up, Catholicism
affected his education although there were very few Catholic schools. His life would soon
influence his writing of The Rape of the Lock. The following comes from the Twickenham
Edition of Pope's poem:
The families concerned in the Rape of the Lock - The Fermors, Petres, and
Carylls—were 
prominent members of that group of great intermarried Roman Catholic families owning land
in the home countries. Most of whom came within the circle of Pope's friends and
acquaintances and to whom Pope considered his own family to belong. Some time before 21
March 1712, when Pope sold his poem to Lintott, Robert, Lord Petre had cut off a lock of
Arabella Fermor's hair, and John Caryll had suggested to Pope that he should write a poem
to heal the estrangement that followed between the two families. (Twinckenham 83) 
Alexander Pope is responsible for one of the most comic poems of the eighteenth century,
The Rape of the Lock. This poem was written specifically to resolve a serious falling out
between two leading Catholic families. (The cause of the quarrel was the cutting of a
lock of hair by Lord Petre from the head of Arabella Fermor.) But, this poem also
discussed another theme: the relationship between men and women. The events that Pope
describes in this poem occur between Belinda, who is motivated by pride and vanity and
Baron, who is driven by ambition. Belinda's energy is 
driven to attract a man and pretend to be affectionate and then cast him off for another.
Baron oversteps his boundaries of acceptable behavior by acting with force toward the
desirable woman. The Rape of the Lock is both a scornful description of a ridiculous
social situation and a serious analysis of consequences of flattering self-esteem and
desire. 
The Rape of the Lock is a staple of neoclassical writing; it includes wit and wit is
characterized by parallelism and balance. It contains epic conventions such as war
(between the sexes), epic game (played on the "velvet plain" of the card table), a
journey (to the underworld), and battle. Pope writes by describing the man as the hero.
But Finch writes her poetry in regards to women. 
When Anne Finch wrote, she followed a particularly intellectual course, not only for
women but also for anyone at the time. She wrote about philosophy; her philosophical work
had another important source: her own physical pain. She was concerned to provide
theodicy for her writers. She attempted to reunite the existence of a compassionate or
benign god with the existence of suffering and other evil in the world. Her audience
should be prepared to read 
religious controversy, which is far more intense than other philosophical contemporaries.

Ann Finch may have objected to Pope's The Rape of the Lock because Pope's poem is
impressed by the force of humor and the style serves to exaggerate how ridiculous "war"
is between a man and a woman. In The Rape of the Lock, the laughter and ridicule do not
undermine the importance of good sense and virtue in the relationships between men and
women. Finch disagrees and believes the woman is a heroin in this poem. 
Finch argues that woman rule the race, but men believe that they are the rulers. In most
of Finch's works, she "submerges political conflict in an explicitly female lyric voice"
(DeMaria 201). "Finch creates both female poetry and poetry of abjection out of this
situation- or, rather more accurately, those tangled subjectivies created the abject
female poet out of her" (201). She is comfortable criticizing one of the most powerful
poets in her period (Pope) while "killing him with kindness". 
Pope's belief in Catholicism and Finch's belief in philosophy may have also been a cause
of Finch's objection to The Rape of the Lock. The two writers had different viewpoints
toward religion. Also, Finch may have seen more 
importance in writing about her own pain, while Pope finds it important to write about
others pain. He writes about the pain of Belinda and Baron.
In conclusion, there are several examples, as one can observe, of Finch's objection to
The Rape of the Lock. The life and beliefs of these two authors were entirely different
and this seems to be the major reason Finch may have objected to Pope's poem. 
Works Cited
Cunningham, J.S., ed. The Rape of the Lock. New York: 
Oxford University Press, 1966.
DeMaria, Robert, ed. British Literature. Massachusetts:
Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1999.
Goldgar, Bertrand, ed. Literary Criticism of Alexander 
Pope. New York: University of Nebraska Press, 
1965.
http://users.ox.ac.k/~worc0337/authors/anne.conway.htlm