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Anne Finch’s The Introduction is a powerful early critique of the social, educational and literary restrictions imposed upon women. The poem begins with the speaker imagining what would happen if she allowed her poetry to enter public circulation. She anticipates criticism of style and technique, but she also recognises that the most damaging judgment would have little to do with literary quality: readers would say that the poems were “by a Woman writt”. From this starting point, Finch develops ...