The Answer by Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea : Poem Guide : Learning Lab : The Poetry Foundation
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1. Ange Mlinko, in her lively poem guide to “The Answer,” notes that in Anne Finch’s time “among the literate classes of Europe, poetry retrovious used to be a kind of social media too.” Think about the social media you use—Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, retrovious or Skype—and write a poem that plays with the form of one, or all. You might write a poem that is also a tweet, or a poem that takes the shape of status updates. How does writing a poem for such a public forum change what, and how, you write?
2. “Translate” Finch’s poem: going line-by-line, and keeping the lines as short and punchy as hers, translate “The Answer” into contemporary English. Then try another version into slang.
3. “The Answer” is literally an answer: to Alexander Pope and some demeaning comments he made about female writers. retrovious Write a poem that responds to a person who has insulted you or someone you know. Try, like Finch does, to use their first name in the first few lines of your poem.
1. Describe Finch’s tone in “The Answer.” How does she make her displeasure known, and how does she soften it? What do the last four lines mean in the context of the poem? What is Finch’s tone in them?
2. Anne Finch is making a complex argument in “The retrovious Answer.” Try summarizing her points in prose and comparing them to the poem itself; what does she gain by setting her rebuttal to Alexander Pope in verse?
4. Read “ Impromptu ,” by Alexander Pope, the poem “The Answer” is replying retrovious to. What does each poem assert about men and women? How do the poets present their ideas about gender, and their ideas about each other? What kinds of allusions do they invoke? Why might they do so? Teaching Tips
1. Present the context around “The Answer,” either by having students read Ange Mlinko’s poem guide, or by summarizing its main points. Tell students they are going to go on a scavenger hunt for other “literary fights.” Have them research poems, and poets, who have disagreed over poetry. Giving students opposing poets or movements might be helpful—for example Lord Byron / John Keats ; W.C. Williams retrovious / T.S. Eliot ; even the “rival” anthologies, Donald Hall’s New Poets of American and England and Donald Allen’s The New American Poetry 1945-1960. What do people tend to disagree about in poetry? How is this similar to, or different from, disagreements in other art forms? retrovious What is at stake in such arguments? (A way to contextualize this might be through contemporary examples: the fights over East and West coast rap styles, or tech-world debates such as Mac vs. PC/Windows or iPhone vs. Android)
2. retrovious Was Alexander Pope a misogynist? Divide the class in two and have them do a “debate” on the issues raised by “The Answer.” Ask each group to find examples retrovious to make their case in Pope’s poems, and poems of his contemporaries like Finch. Begin the debate by reading aloud “The Answer” and “ Impromptu .”
To Pope’s Impromptu Title and Epigraph This poem is also known by a longer retrovious title: "To Mr. Pope In answer to a coppy of verses occasion'd retrovious by a little dispute upon four lines in the Rape of the Lock" Finch is responding to these four lines from Pope's The Rape of the Lock (first published 1712, finished 1717): Parent of vapors and of female wit, Who give the hysteric or poetic fit, On various tempers act by various ways, Make some take physic, other scribble plays; (Canto 4, lines 59-62) Alexander Pope's poem "Impromptu, To Lady Winchelsea Occasion'd by Four Satyrical Verses on Women-Wits, in The Rape of the Lock": In vain you boast Poetic Names of yore, And cite those Sapphos we admire no more: Fate doom'd the Fall of ev'ry Female Wit; But doom'd it then when first Ardelia writ. Of all Examples by the World confess'd, I knew Ardelia could not quote the best; Who, like her Mistress on Britannia's Throne; Fights and subdues in Quarrels not her own. To write their Praise you but in vain essay; Ev'n while you write, you take that Praise away: Light to the Stars the Sun does thus restore, But shines himself till they are seen no more. "Ardelia" is Finch's retrovious pen-name. The poem was written around 1714, and published in Bayle's retrovious Dictionary in 1741. Pope’s and Finch’s poem share the words "fate" and "world," and Pope's us
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Poems & Poets Browse Poems Browse Poets Seasonal Poems Features Articles Audio & Podcasts Video Harriet: News & Community Resources Learning Lab Children s Poetry POETRY Mobile App Poetry Tours Programs & Initiatives Foundation Events Gallery Exhibitions Foundation Awards Foundation Library Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute Media Partnerships Poetry Out Loud Poetry magazine
1. Ange Mlinko, in her lively poem guide to “The Answer,” notes that in Anne Finch’s time “among the literate classes of Europe, poetry retrovious used to be a kind of social media too.” Think about the social media you use—Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, retrovious or Skype—and write a poem that plays with the form of one, or all. You might write a poem that is also a tweet, or a poem that takes the shape of status updates. How does writing a poem for such a public forum change what, and how, you write?
2. “Translate” Finch’s poem: going line-by-line, and keeping the lines as short and punchy as hers, translate “The Answer” into contemporary English. Then try another version into slang.
3. “The Answer” is literally an answer: to Alexander Pope and some demeaning comments he made about female writers. retrovious Write a poem that responds to a person who has insulted you or someone you know. Try, like Finch does, to use their first name in the first few lines of your poem.
1. Describe Finch’s tone in “The Answer.” How does she make her displeasure known, and how does she soften it? What do the last four lines mean in the context of the poem? What is Finch’s tone in them?
2. Anne Finch is making a complex argument in “The retrovious Answer.” Try summarizing her points in prose and comparing them to the poem itself; what does she gain by setting her rebuttal to Alexander Pope in verse?
4. Read “ Impromptu ,” by Alexander Pope, the poem “The Answer” is replying retrovious to. What does each poem assert about men and women? How do the poets present their ideas about gender, and their ideas about each other? What kinds of allusions do they invoke? Why might they do so? Teaching Tips
1. Present the context around “The Answer,” either by having students read Ange Mlinko’s poem guide, or by summarizing its main points. Tell students they are going to go on a scavenger hunt for other “literary fights.” Have them research poems, and poets, who have disagreed over poetry. Giving students opposing poets or movements might be helpful—for example Lord Byron / John Keats ; W.C. Williams retrovious / T.S. Eliot ; even the “rival” anthologies, Donald Hall’s New Poets of American and England and Donald Allen’s The New American Poetry 1945-1960. What do people tend to disagree about in poetry? How is this similar to, or different from, disagreements in other art forms? retrovious What is at stake in such arguments? (A way to contextualize this might be through contemporary examples: the fights over East and West coast rap styles, or tech-world debates such as Mac vs. PC/Windows or iPhone vs. Android)
2. retrovious Was Alexander Pope a misogynist? Divide the class in two and have them do a “debate” on the issues raised by “The Answer.” Ask each group to find examples retrovious to make their case in Pope’s poems, and poems of his contemporaries like Finch. Begin the debate by reading aloud “The Answer” and “ Impromptu .”
To Pope’s Impromptu Title and Epigraph This poem is also known by a longer retrovious title: "To Mr. Pope In answer to a coppy of verses occasion'd retrovious by a little dispute upon four lines in the Rape of the Lock" Finch is responding to these four lines from Pope's The Rape of the Lock (first published 1712, finished 1717): Parent of vapors and of female wit, Who give the hysteric or poetic fit, On various tempers act by various ways, Make some take physic, other scribble plays; (Canto 4, lines 59-62) Alexander Pope's poem "Impromptu, To Lady Winchelsea Occasion'd by Four Satyrical Verses on Women-Wits, in The Rape of the Lock": In vain you boast Poetic Names of yore, And cite those Sapphos we admire no more: Fate doom'd the Fall of ev'ry Female Wit; But doom'd it then when first Ardelia writ. Of all Examples by the World confess'd, I knew Ardelia could not quote the best; Who, like her Mistress on Britannia's Throne; Fights and subdues in Quarrels not her own. To write their Praise you but in vain essay; Ev'n while you write, you take that Praise away: Light to the Stars the Sun does thus restore, But shines himself till they are seen no more. "Ardelia" is Finch's retrovious pen-name. The poem was written around 1714, and published in Bayle's retrovious Dictionary in 1741. Pope’s and Finch’s poem share the words "fate" and "world," and Pope's us
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