The first poem you read in this course was Mary Jones's "Holt Water." The last was Anne Finch's "The Spleen." What continuities do you perceive (or not!) between these two poems? Taken together, how do these poems illustrate some of the continuities and themes of the subject matter of this course?
Deadline: Wednesday (5/4), noon.
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I think it is interesting to note that Mary Jones uses emotion to cover for a bodily function were as Anne Finch uses a bodily function/organ to cover an emotion. In "Holt Water" Chloe feels the call of nature and makes the excuse to her lover that she must visit a friend to console her on the passing of her pet bird. In "The Spleen" Finch blames her organ and the humors coming from it to mask her depression.
Even though these tow poets use the masking effect for opposite purposes, the very fact that they both cloak the subject of their poems is interesting. I think it leads to a larger trope of women poets hiding behind excuses or protestations of being an amateur so that their poetry is more readily acceptable. The trend of protest poems has been established with our readings of Mary Leapor and Mary Jones. Another trend to consider is the use of allusions to give a more educated tone to poetry, but even this hides the plain English meaning of the poems; reader gets lost in the language and misses the actual meaning.
Do only women mask the meaning of their poetry? Or does the form and expected language of poetry make this trend universal for all poets?
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