“Overcoming the sinful states : Anne Finch’s “Psalm the 137th : Paraphrased to the 7th Verse” as a poem of spiritual transition AND “Vessels of desire in Jane Austen’s Persuasion”
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Brooke M. Neal (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Jennifer Keith
Abstract: Since the poetry of Anne Finch places equal emphasis on religion and the political atmosphere of early seventeenth-century Britain, it is surprising that her religious lyrics have received little attention from twenty and twenty-first century scholars. This essay argues that Anne Finch’s devotional poem “Psalm the 137th: Paraphrased to the 7th Verse” demonstrates the importance of religion in Finch’s oeuvre. Due to the significance of the original Psalm 137 in the political and literary spheres of seventeenth-century England, I argue that Finch’s paraphrase of this psalm perhaps best demonstrates how her religious poetry illustrates her ability to repurpose the conventions of seventeenth-century religious verses to convey the themes of loss, grief, and spiritual transformation, which figure among other themes that undergird the entirety of her corpus. Because this psalm paraphrase, and other verses like it, are so closely bound to these foundational themes of Finch’s oeuvre, they offer us a crucial guide to Finch’s poetic strategies and their connection to her core values, demonstrating that it is her religious, rather than her secular, poetry that give us the clearest idea of the values that influence her work as a poet. AND With the possible exception of Austen’s preceding novel Mansfield Park, naval ships feature more prominently in Persuasion than any other of Austen’s works, and they often appear in relation to the desires of the characters. While literal ships certainly feature in the novel, the characters themselves often embody the functions of naval vessels by acting as containers and transporters. I argue that these vessels, both literal and metaphorical, perform a dual function: first, they fluctuate between active and passive roles regardless of their gender and, second, offer a contrast to the existing circumstances in the narrative. The characters in the novel, such as Anne who is treated as an inert container for her family’s desires, share this passive role but then demonstrates an ability to independently spring into action by taking initiative at the Cobb. Admiral Croft and Captain Harville also perform an active role by containing a regard for human connection over material assets, pushing against the current of the acquisitiveness of Anne’s family. Ships, both metaphorical and literal, function in the same manner as the vessels of the British Royal Navy during the early nineteenth century: just as naval ships were instrumental in the British victory over French tyranny, so too do the vessels in Persuasion help Anne and Wentworth vanquish the characters’ prevailing attitude of avarice, therefore transporting the couple to their joyful reconciliation.
“Overcoming the sinful states : Anne Finch’s “Psalm the 137th : Paraphrased to the 7th Verse” as a poem of spiritual transition AND “Vessels of desire in Jane Austen’s Persuasion”
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Created on 5/1/2024
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- Anne Finch, Austen, Navy, Persuasion, Psalm 137, Ships
- Subjects
- Winchilsea, Anne Kingsmill Finch, $c Countess of, $d 1661-1720
- Religious poetry, English $y Early modern, 1500-1700
- Austen, Jane, $d 1775-1817. $t Persuasion
- Ships in literature