Through her commentary on the mental and spiritual equality of the sexes and the importance of women fulfilling their potential as a moral duty to themselves and to society,[1] she is regarded as one of the integral female poets of the Augustan Era.

In 1670, Lady Kingsmill filed her own Court of Chancery suit, demanding from William Haslewood a share in the educational and support monies for Anne and Bridget.

The sisters received a comprehensive and progressive education, something that was uncommon for girls at the time, and Anne Kingsmill learned about Greek and Roman mythology, the Bible, French and Italian languages, history, poetry, and drama.

However, when Anne Kingsmill witnessed the derision within the court that greeted Killigrew's poetic efforts (poetry was not a pursuit considered suitable for women), she decided to keep her own writing attempts to herself and her close friends.

His family had strong Royalist connections, as well as a pronounced loyalty to the Stuart dynasty, and his grandmother Elizabeth Finch had become the 1st Countess of Winchilsea in 1628.

During the 1685 coronation of James II, Heneage Finch carried the canopy of the Queen, Mary of Modena, who had specifically requested his service.

In April 1690, Heneage Finch was arrested and charged with Jacobitism for attempting to join the exiled James II in France.

It was a difficult time for Jacobites and Nonjurors (those who had refused to take the oath of allegiance, such as the Finches), as their arrests and punishments were abusive.

Living with friends in Kent while her husband prepared his defence in London, Anne Finch often succumbed to bouts of depression, something that afflicted her for most of her adult life.

The Finches took up residence in late 1690 and found peace and security on the estate, where they would live for more than 25 years in the quiet countryside.

The peace and seclusion at Eastwell fostered the development of Finch's poetry, and the retirement in the country provided her with her most productive writing period.

Her work revealed her growing knowledge of contemporary poetic conventions, and the themes she addressed included metaphysics, the beauty of nature (as expressed in "A Nocturnal Reverie"), and the value of friendship (as in "The Petition for an Absolute Retreat").

When the Finches returned to London, Anne acquired some important and influential friends, including renowned writers such as Jonathan Swift, Nicholas Rowe, and Alexander Pope,[4] who encouraged her to write and publish much more openly.

[5] For instance, Swift's poem "Apollo Outwitted" depicts the angry god condemning Finch to a life "negligent of fame," which playfully suggests that her modesty is a curse.

[citation needed] Finch died in 1720 in Westminster, London, and her body was returned to Eastwell for burial, according to her previously stated wishes.

A portion of it read, "To draw her Ladyship's just Character, requires a masterly Pen like her own (She being a fine Writer, and an excellent Poet); we shall only presume to say, she was the most faithful Servant to her Royall Mistresse, the best Wife to her Noble Lord, and in every other Relation, publick and private, so illustrious an Example of such extraordinary Endowments, both of Body and Mind, that the Court of England never bred a more accomplished Lady, nor the Church of England a better Christian.

Nearly a century after her death, her poetic output had been largely forgotten, until the great English poet William Wordsworth praised her nature poetry in an essay included in his 1815 volume Lyrical Ballads.

According to James Winn,[9] Anne Finch is the librettist of Venus and Adonis, with music by John Blow; the work is considered by some scholars to be the first true opera in the English language.

She goes on to acknowledge that in Finch's work, "Now and again words issue of pure poetry…It was a thousand pities that the woman who could write like that, whose mind was turned to nature, and reflection, should have been forced to anger and bitterness."

Woolf wishes to know more about "this melancholy lady, who loved wandering in the fields and thinking about unusual things and scorned, so rashly, so unwisely, 'the dull manage of a servile house.

This is largely due to her work reflecting upon nature and finding both an emotional and religious relationship to it in her verse, consequentially commenting on the change in philosophical and political policy of the time.

In her works, Finch drew upon her own observations and experiences, demonstrating an insightful awareness of the social mores and political climate of her era.

Did I, my lines intend for public view, How many censures, would their faults pursue, Some would, because such words they do affect, Cry they’re insipid, empty, and uncorrect.

True judges might condemn their want of wit, With these lines, written in the poem The Introduction by Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, readers are welcomed into a vibrant, emotional, and opinionated style.

Melancholy, full of wit, and socially conscious, Anne Finch wrote verse and dramatic literature with a talent that has caused her works to not only survive, but to flourish in an impressive poetic legacy throughout the centuries since her death.

Finch experimented with the poetic traditions of her day, often straying from the fold through her use of rhyme, metre and content, which ranged from the simplistic to the metaphysical.

Finch also wrote several satiric vignettes modelled after the short tales of French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine.

Thou Proteus to abused mankind, Who never yet thy real cause could find, Or fix thee to remain in one continued shape.

Still varying thy perplexing form, Now a Dead Sea thou'lt represent, A calm of stupid discontent, Then, dashing on the rocks wilt rage into a storm.