Blog Post #6 Anonymous Lady Poetry

I every substance would resign

To clasp thy aerial breast to mine;

Or if, my love, that could not be,

I would turn air to mix with thee. (57-60)

This excerpt is from “A Letter to My Love—All Alone, Past 12, in the Dumps” from the Anonymous Lady. Unlike others of the time, she revived the amorous ardor of some metaphysical poets such as Andrew Marvell and John Donne. Though she doesn’t necessarily use a metaphysical conceit, her poems do express the passions and pangs of love but, most importantly, from a female perspective. What I really appreciate about her poetry is her unabashed approach to it. She easily could have conformed to the norms of that time and written like her male counterparts, focused more on criticisms and satire yet because she did not receive their similar education, “Who were the slaves of Busby's nod,/And learned their methods from his rod” (15-16) she developed a truer style to herself. Her ability to maintain the couplet form throughout the poem’s, much like Pope, and yet maintain a coherent narrative is admirable. With the advent of free verse, poetry has been unfettered and few poets write in form anymore but not because of it being outdated but because of its difficulty. “On Being Charged with Writing Incorrectly” must also be commended as she responded to the charge in verse, when she easily could have send in an essay. The frequent allusions in this poem “Though all Parnassus could be mine” “Shall bright Apollo drudge at school” “The tuneful Sisters still he leads” shows her being well read and also autodidactic. The very existence of her poetry, in a male dominated society, stands as monument to her character: an unbridled spirit seeking outlet.