Tennyson's Poetry and Views
Alfred Lord Tennyson and his works have been an important part of canonical literature for over a century. He is as important as he is because his work is exceptional in many ways. One of these exceptional differences, in my opinion, is the conflicting view of women Tennyson portrays in his poetry, especially his poem "Locksley Hall." Tennyson's "Locksley Hall" is, in my opinion, a poem that would benefit greatly from an ideological discussion concerning Tennyson's views of women. This poem poses the questions: Are Tennyson's words describing a set of beliefs felt only by the narrator of the poem, or does Tennyson himself share these beliefs? Is the condescending, yet powerful view of women only the
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Apparently Amy has led him on, but is now set to marry another. The jilted young man is pouring his feelings out in a stream of consciousness about his unrequited love. He has lost both his parents and has never really loved anyone until Amy. Unfortunately, it appears that Amy is interested in more than love when it comes to marriage; she is interested in money and is going to marry a wealthy man.
I question Tennyson's view of women when his jilted narrator says:
Weakness to be wroth with weakness! Woman's pleasure,woman's pain--
Nature made them blinder motions bounded in a shallower brain.
Woman is the lesser man, and all thy passions, match'd with mine,
Are as moonlight unto sunlight, and water unto wine-- (149-152, 1842 Ed.)
It is clear that the jilted youth is ranting because he is upset, but could he simply be saying out loud what all others, including Tennyson, actually believe about women, but do not say? It can be argued that this poem is simply representative of a rant by a typical male youth. Tennyson did say that the speaker of the poem did have a "good side," "deficiencies," and "yearnings" (qtd. in Buckler, n. 636). This makes it clear that Tennyson did recognize that his character had problems, but it seems to me that these problems are greater than the average
Anne Sexton was a junior-college dropout who, inspired by emotional distress, became a poet. She won the Pulitzer Prize as well as three honorary doctorates. Her poems usually dealt with intensely personal, often feminist, subject matter due to her tortured relationships with gender roles and the place of women in society. The movies, women’s magazines and even some women’s schools supported the notion that decent women took naturally to homemaking and mothering (Schulman). Like others of her generation, Sexton was frustrated by this fixed feminine role society was encouraging. Her poem “Cinderella” is an example of her views, and it also introduces a new topic of how out of touch with reality fairy tales often are. In “Cinderella”, Anne Sexton uses tone and symbolism to portray her attitude towards traditional gender roles and the unrealistic life of fairy tales.
Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.
Anne Sexton was a poet and a woman, but most importantly, she was an outcast. Subjected to nervous breakdowns and admitted to a neuropsychiatry hospital, Sexton must have been all too familiar with the staring eyes and the judging minds of the public. Just being a woman in today's world often can be enough to degrade a person in the public's eye, let alone being labeled as a crazy woman. But Anne Sexton did not let society remain unchallenged in its views. She voiced a different opinion of women through poetry. In Anne Sexton's "Her Kind" the speaker of the poem embraces society's negative stereotype of modern, liberated women and transforms it into a positive image. Two voices, the voice of
In the third stanza it states that “If she wants to grill anything, it's her husband spitted over a slow fire. This quote makes me feel that she want to kill her husband because he is probably not helping her at home and making her his slave. I believe that this person is tired of cooking and being a slave to her husband. In the end of the poem, it also states “During dinner is not incompetence but war”. This means that this happened for a long time I believe that women all over the world are being mistreated and they should stand up for what they believe in. Therefore women should be treated the same way men are being
“Whose behavior could be odder / than that of a stubborn man / who himself breathes on the mirror, / and then laments it is not clear?” Man’s double standards and self-inflicted exacerbation of women has been a prominent issue for centuries. Consequently, women have faced marginalization and oppression throughout the ages. In moments of bravery, exemplary figures have spoken out against this injustice. Two such characters during the Enlightenment period are Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Mary Wollstonecraft. Specifically, Sor Juana’s poem “Philosophical Satire” and Wollstonecraft’s piece A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Sor Juana speaks to the injustice her gender faces through sharp words which attack the double standard and
In the poem, “35/10” by Sharon Olds, the speaker uses wistful and jealous tones to convey her feeling about her daughter’s coming of age. The speaker, a thirty-five year old woman, realizes that as the door to womanhood is opening for her ten year old daughter, it is starting to close for her. A wistful tone is used when the speaker calls herself, “the silver-haired servant” (4) behind her daughter, indicating that she wishes she was not the servant, but the served. Referring to herself as her daughter’s servant indicates a sense of self-awareness in the speaker. She senses her power is weakening and her daughter’s power is strengthening. It also shows wistfulness for her diminishing youth, and sadness for her advancing years. This
Patriarchal culture has dominated society throughout history. Males have control in many aspects of life and women have continued to fight for equal rights in society. There are many ways women have contributed to the fight for equality; some more physical and other less abrasive. Education and Literature gave the voice to a few women in a male-centered world. Poet Lady Mary Wroth captures the injustices experienced by women in the feminine narrative of Sonnet 9 from her collection of sonnets, songs, and lyrics entitled 'Pamphilia to Amphilantus. In this poem, Wroth explores the thoughts of elite women in the 1700s and uses aspects of her own cultural and historic circumstance to convey the theme of a religious patriarchal society.
Anne Sexton was a junior-college dropout who, inspired by emotional distress, became a poet. She won the Pulitzer Prize as well as three honorary doctorates. Her poems usually dealt with intensely personal, often feminist, subject matter due to her tortured relationships with gender roles and the place of women in society. The movies, women’s magazines and even some women’s schools supported the notion that decent women took naturally to homemaking and mothering (Schulman). Like others of her generation, Sexton was frustrated by this fixed feminine role society was encouraging. Her poem “Cinderella” is an example of her views, and it also introduces a new topic of how out of touch with reality fairy tales often are. In “Cinderella”, Anne Sexton uses tone and symbolism to portray her attitude towards traditional gender roles and the unrealistic life of fairy tales.
Reflections Within is a non-traditional stanzaic poem made up of five stanzas containing thirty-four lines that do not form a specific metrical pattern. Rather it is supported by its thematic structure. Each of the five stanzas vary in the amount of lines that each contain. The first stanza is a sestet containing six lines. The same can be observed of the second stanza. The third stanza contains eight lines or an octave. Stanzas four and five are oddly in that their number of lines which are five and nine.
These characters grow as they suffer through marriage problems. When the woman leaves the man, which lets him learn his mistakes and to be grateful for the things they had. He writes, “Things to tell her. That I’m sorry. That I miss her. That all I want-all I ever wanted-is for her to be happy” (Dooley and Holzman 3). The man has learned and developed into a greater human being.
Poetry. A seemingly simple word to the eye, but is one of the most fundamental and interesting concepts of English. The beauty of poetry is that each one of us in this room could have a different perception on any poem. It can make you angry, sad or happy, It depends on how you interpret the words. Today I’ll be breaking down the elements included in Gwen Harwood’s ‘In the Park’ and how women are viewed. Generally, women can be depicted as poor or wealthy, nasty and aggressive or compassionate and affectionate, intelligent or dumbfounded, loyal or unfaithful. Roles of women include Mothers, daughters, Aunties or housewives just to name a few.
Every author, poet, playwright has a subtle message that they would like present to their audience. It may be a lifelong struggle that they have put into words, or a multiple page book that took a lifetime to write. A poet by the name of Anne Sexton sought out to challenge society’s views of women by writing “Her Kind”. A poet, a playwright, and an author of children’s books, Anne Sexton writes about the conflicts of a social outcast living in modern times. She voices the hardships she faces through three different speakers in her poem. At the end of the poem, the woman is not ashamed nor afraid of whom she is and is ready to die in peace. In Anne Sexton’s poem “Her Kind”, the main idea the speaker is depicting is the multiple stereotypes placed on a woman, by society. Sexton’s vivid use of imagery paints a picture of the witch, house wife, and mother cliché, while also implying the poem is autobiographical as Sexton went through her own personal struggles during her life.
The weakness of women is found in various forms throughout the text. Henry refers to women as “a decorative sex” and that “they never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly.” (Wilde 43) Nowhere is this better supported than during Lady Henry’s
“Maud: A Monodrama” is the lengthy poem that dominated the first collection published by Alfred, Lord Tennyson after he became poet laureate. In its rich and romantic symbolism, it is characteristic of the great poet 's work. Notable, also, is its critique of the hypocrisy and other social failings of Victorian Britain. “Maud” became one of the best-known poems of the period, and continued to be influential even after its style became dated.
The role of women in the society is always questioned and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was extremely negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfill domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: “During the first half of the 19th century, women 's roles in society evolved in the areas of occupational, moral, and social reform. Through efforts such as factory movements, social reform, and women 's rights, their aims were realized and foundations for further reform were established” (Lauter 1406). Feminist poets like Emily Dickinson and Anne Bradstreet talked substantially about feminism in different lights in the past two centuries. They were very vocal and assertive about their rights and the ‘rights for women’ in general. While they might have been successful at making a good attempt to obliterate gender biases but still there are lot of disparities between the two genders. Nevertheless, their poetry reflects a deep angst.