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19 de feb. de 2021 · A Nocturnal Reverie – Summary. Posted on February 19, 2021 by JL Admin. ‘‘A Nocturnal Reverie’’ is a fifty-line poem describing an inviting nighttime scene and the speaker’s disappointment when dawn brings it to an end, forcing her back to the real world. It is written in iambic pentameter, a meter that consists of five ...
A Nocturnal Reverie. By Countess of Winchilsea Anne Finch. In such a night, when every louder wind. Is to its distant cavern safe confined; And only gentle Zephyr fans his wings, And lonely Philomel, still waking, sings; Or from some tree, famed for the owl’s delight,
Till morning breaks, and all’s confused again; Our cares, our toils, our clamors are renewed, Or pleasures, seldom reached, again pursued." The majority of this poem contains detailed descriptions of a nighttime scene. Anne Finch uses night and day to create a metaphor comparing the busy world and peaceful solitude.
- Introduction
- Author Biography
- Poem Summary
- Themes
- Topics For Further Study
- Style
- Historical Context
- Compare & Contrast
- Critical Overview
- Criticism
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 ser...
Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, was born in April 1661 to Anne Haselwood and Sir William Kingsmill. Finch was their third child, and would be their last, as William died when Finch was only five months old. Fortunately, William made arrangements for all of his children's educations before his death. After her mother was remarried to Sir Thomas ...
"A Nocturnal Reverie" is a fifty-line poem describing an inviting nighttime scene and the speaker's disappointment when dawn brings it to an end, forcing her back to the real world. It is written in iambic pentameter, a meter that consists of five feet (or units), each containing an unstressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Moreover, ...
Natural World versus Civilized World
The speaker evokes a strong sense of serenity and escape in "A Nocturnal Reverie." The speaker has left her ordinary life behind in favor of exploring the inviting and relaxing nighttime landscape. Everything from the sights, sounds, and smells of the night creates an almost perfect world that comforts her and allows her the luxury of going deeply into her own thoughts and feelings. At no point does she feel lonely or hurried because nature in the twilight provides everything her real self—he...
Nature as Living Community
Finch portrays nature in "A Nocturnal Reverie" as a lively and animated community of animals, trees, flowers, plants, clouds, aromas, grass, wind, and water. These elements of nature are described as if they have feelings, opinions, and joy. The wind is not merely a lucky turn of the weather, but an act by the Greek god of the west wind himself. The owl sounds in the night for the purpose of leading the speaker to the right place. Clouds do not randomly float across the sky but act to hide an...
Escape
The poem's title bears the word reveriewhich is a dream or dream-like state. The poem is so rich, lavish, and utterly inviting, the reader must wonder if the speaker is describing a dream she had just before she awoke in the morning, or if she actually wandered through nature at night and, in her relaxation, fell into a dreamlike state. After all, as she rests on the riverbank, she describes thinking about things that are hard to put into words, and she admits the experience of being in that...
"A Nocturnal Reverie" is rich in imagery and sensory descriptions. Find three to five works of art that, when combined, give a sense of the poem's setting. Create a display that features the artwor...The speaker lovingly embraces the serenity of nature at night. How does being outside at night make you feel? Drawing on your personal experiences, write a poem or a prose piece expressing your tho...Some scholars claim that this poem was a pre-romantic poem. Read about the romantic movement in England to find out what the writers were trying to accomplish and what the poetry of the movement wa...Finch was hindered in seriously pursuing poetry by her society and her status in it. Who were some of the first prominent women poets in England? What were their backgrounds and what subjects did t...Syntax
This poem is one continuous telling of the speaker's experience; it tells a story in a clear path from the beginning to the end. Although it is fifty lines long, there is no period until the very end. Still, Finch's command of the verse is steady throughout the poem and it never feels out of control or rambling. In fact, Finch controls the poem so carefully that all of the dreamy language and imaginative scenes are expressed in heroic couplets from start to finish. The effect of the ongoing p...
Personification
Using personification, Finch breathes life into the natural elements in "A Nocturnal Reverie" so thoroughly that the scene seems populated with friends, old and new, rather than with trees, animals, and breezes. Every element that the speaker encounters in her nighttime adventure is alive and familiar because it possesses some characteristic or behavior that seems human. Personification is a literary device with which the author assigns human characteristics to non-human entities and is simil...
Glorious Revolution of 1688
James II was the king of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1685-88. He was a Catholic king whose strong arm angered and disgruntled Protestant Britain. He succeeded his brother King Charles II, who died in 1685 after achieving a peaceful working relationship between the king and Parliament. James was less interested in a mutual sharing of power, and quickly grabbed power back from Parliament. Not only did he stand firmly on his Catholicism and his staunch view of the divine rightof kings, h...
Augustan Age in England
"A Nocturnal Reverie" is strongly associated with Augustan writing in England. The term comes from the rule of Emperor Augustus in Rome, who was known for his love of learning and careful attention to writing. In Great Britain, the dominant writers of what is considered the Augustan Age were Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Sir Richard Steele, and Joseph Addison. The exact dates of this age are a matter of debate; some put them as following Queen Anne's reign (1702-14), while others equate the...
1713: Few aristocratic women attempt to become serious poets, regardless of their skill or education. Women generally are not considered major literary figures. A woman trying to position herself a...1713: Well-bred, well-educated young women like Finch are employed by the court, live with their fathers, live off a family inheritance, or marry respected men with desirable incomes.Today:Well-edu...1713: People are frequently drawn to the outdoors as a source of peaceful relaxation. It is common for aristocrats to unwind by enjoying a leisurely walk around the grounds of their property, or to...In Finch's lifetime, she enjoyed a minimal amount of attention and respect for her work. Her reputation was largely based on "The Spleen" and "A Nocturnal Reverie." Renewed interest in women writers, and especially overlooked women writers, led to Finch's rediscovery in the twentieth century and inclusion among major English poets. Prior to that, W...
Jennifer Bussey
Bussey has a master's degree in interdisciplinary studies and a bachelor's degree in English literature. She is an independent writer specializing in literature. In this essay, Bussey explores in more depth the debate about whether Anne Finch's "A Nocturnal Reverie" is Augustan or pre-romantic. Modern readers of Anne Finch's work take a particular interest in "A Nocturnal Reverie" with regard to its categorization. With the benefit of significant historical and literary hindsight, some schola...
12 de jul. de 2021 · Poem of the week: A Nocturnal Reverie by Anne Finch. This sensuous evocation of a moonlit walk is rich with precisely observed natural details. Carol Rumens. Mon 12 Jul 2021 07.00 EDT. A...
- Carol Rumens
She commemorated the beauty of nature in "Nocturnal Reverie," "The Tree," "The Bird," and "Petition for an Absolute Retreat," the latter poem also suggesting her escape from political turmoil.
19 de feb. de 2021 · Posted on February 19, 2021 by JL Admin. Modern readers of Anne Finch’s work take a particular interest in ‘‘A Nocturnal Reverie’’ with regard to its categorization. With the benefit of significant historical and literary hindsight, some scholars regard the poem as an example of the Augustan literature that was so popular ...
