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A Study Guide for Anne Finch's "A Nocturnal Reverie"
A Study Guide for Anne Finch's "A Nocturnal Reverie"
A Study Guide for Anne Finch's "A Nocturnal Reverie"
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A Study Guide for Anne Finch's "A Nocturnal Reverie"

By Gale and Cengage

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A Study Guide for Anne Finch's "A Nocturnal Reverie," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 2, 2016
ISBN9781535816953
A Study Guide for Anne Finch's "A Nocturnal Reverie"

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    A Study Guide for Anne Finch's "A Nocturnal Reverie" - Gale

    08

    A Nocturnal Reverie

    Anne Finch

    1713

    Introduction

    During her lifetime, Anne Finch received limited recognition as a poet, despite the care she took with her writing. She was an aristocrat and a woman, therefore few took her work seriously. In the twentieth century, Finch's work was rediscovered and appreciated. Written in 1713, Finch's A Nocturnal Reverie is among the works that has garnered serious critical attention for the poet. Characteristically Augustan in style and content, the poem contains classical references and descriptions of nature (particularly flowers and the moon) that are consistent with the English Augustan Age. Some consider the poem to be a precursor to the romantic movement. This position is supported by the fact that William Wordsworth, one of the fathers of romantic literature in English, referenced Finch's poem in the supplement to the preface of the second edition of his famous collection Lyrical Ballads (1815), coauthored with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

    The poem is serene in tone and rich in imagery. Finch creates a natural scene that is inviting and relaxing—a nighttime wonderland that, unfortunately, must be left as daybreak approaches. The speaker is saddened that dawn is coming and she must return to the harsh reality of the world and the day. This poem remains one of Finch's best-loved and most-anthologized works. It appears in 2003's Anne Finch: Countess of Winchilsea: Selected Poems, edited by Denys

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