The Lion's Bride - Gwen Harwood

In the opening, she shares her childhood encounters with women in prose with the children’s rhyme “a little girl who had a curl”. This personal anecdote introduces the topic of the portrayal of women in literature, as well as establishes a connection with her audience.

Gwen Harwood underlines the repression of women within society in Home of Mercy by expressing the restrictions that these girls face. The poem brings forward the way society view young females in the 1960s that act ‘indecently’ in societies view. Harwood is opposed to these views and believes that injustice has been done to these girls simply because they are not in a ‘traditional’ and ‘respectable’ marriage. Harwood uses descriptive language, religious imagery and irony to

Traditional gender stereotypes are placed throughout ‘the violets’ to exclusively distinguish between males and females and their roles within society. The persona’s mother is introduced with ‘long hair falling down to her waist’ where this visual imagery, draws our attention to her femininity and beauty. Harwood clarifies the prospect of women’s’ dependence on appearance to define themselves. However, the mother is further described with ‘goldbrown hair’ where the description of gold gives off the connotations of generosity and compassion, in which the single colour reinforces the mother’s importance and purpose.

While the lustful lover of Marvell’s poem also bases his “love” on physical beauty, the speaker in Herrick’s poem neither condones nor condemns this societal standard, but simply acknowledges its existence. Because he realizes beauty plays a huge role in society’s standards for marriage, he urges the virgins he addresses to “go marry” (14). He explains that they “may for ever tarry” if they do not marry “when youth and blood are warmer” and they are in their “prime” (16,10,15). After all, who wants to marry some gnarly old woman?

Gwen Harwood’s poetry is very powerful for its ability to question the social conventions of its time, positioning the reader to see things in new ways. During the 1960’s, a wave of feminism swept across Australian society, challenging the dominant patriarchal ideologies of the time. Gwen Harwood’s poems ‘Burning Sappho’ and ‘Suburban Sonnet’ are two texts that challenge the dominant image of the happy, gentle, but ultimately subservient housewife. Instead, ‘Burning Sappho’ is powerful in constructing the mother as violent to reject the restraints placed on her by society, whilst Suburban Sonnet addresses the mental impact of the female gender’s confinement to the maternal and domestic sphere. Harwood employs a range of language and

Gwen Harwood’s poem The Lion’s Bride, written 1981 revolves around the time period when women were objectified as housewives whose only job was to breed and nurture children, as well as care for their husbands. This poem creates a vivid image about a lion who falls in love with the zookeepers daughter but fails to recognize her when she greets him on her wedding day, wearing her dress, and mistakes her for a ghost. In response to this misinterpretation, the lion proceeds to maul the woman and lies in wait for the zookeeper’s daughter to arrive and feed him. The underlining message behind this poem revolves around a man who believes he is caged by his lover’s father in response to the feelings the father doesn’t agree with, and on her wedding day, the lover feels as though he is destroying the woman because she is marrying someone else.

When examining both Robert Browning’s, My Last Duchess, and Charlotte Mew’s, The Farmers Bride, the reader witnesses the poems positions of marriage in the natural world. Within both works, it is quite evident how each relationship is vastly different from the modern world, yet parallel it at the same time. Whether it be: the interactions between the two people or the conditions of the marriage, it is made more than apparent that both can be applied to modern conceptualizations of marriage.

In Judy (Syfers) Brady’s article, “I Want a Wife”, she expresses her opinions in a satirical commentary that offers hypothetical criteria for an ideal wife, with an underlying message that deals with how people should be grateful for all of the deeds and chores that women do. Brady utilizes the strategy of

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” examine the complex relationship between a husband and wife. The two works take two different approaches to convey the same message: Marriage is not a fairytale, it requires sacrifice and unselfish behavior in order to work. Relationships are difficult to begin and harder to maintain. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and Aylmer and Georgiana are two relationships that shatter the surreal perception of marriage and expose readers to the raw truth, marriage is not a fairytale.

Marriage has often been described as one of the most beautiful and powerful unions one human can form with another. It is the sacred commitment and devotion that two people share in a relationship that makes marriage so appealing since ancient times, up until today. To have and to hold, until death do us part, are the guarantees that two individuals make to one another as they pledge to become one in marriage. It is easy to assume that the guarantee of marriage directly places individuals in an everlasting state of love, affection, and support. However, over the years, marriage has lost its fairy

Women have been the victim of unfair stereotypes and placed at different standards than men since the beginning of time. The Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy and One Perfect Rose by Dorothy Parker take an in depth look at how women are viewed by the opposite gender. Although they take a different approach and have contrasting poetry styles, the theme that is portrayed is prominent for both. Hardy’s poem portrays a woman living in the Victorian Era where the norm was to be married and faithful. The character ‘Melia lives in an individualistic way and is not only unmarried, but has participated in sexual activities before marriage. With this liveliness comes riches and prosperity, but also social backlash. One Perfect Rose tells the story of a woman who receives a rose as a gift from her love interest. The unnamed persona is displeased with this rose because it is typical and thoughtless. The classic gift that men give to women is a rose, which is looked at as a romantic gesture. This poem’s purpose is to show the audience that not every girl’s dream gift is a “perfect rose.” The Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy and One Perfect Rose by Dorothy Parker explore how two women break away from typical stereotypes and long for a more unconventional way of life.

When we look back upon the lives of the men and women living in Elizabethan England their traditions of love and marriage, at first glance, seems so far removed from what we know today. Their antiquated views on the roles men and women play in everyday life further alienate their culture surrounding courtships and marriages. In retrospect, from the views of today’s culture with its emphasis on true love and passion, the customs and traditions of Elizabethan England seem harsh and calculated. The complex rules and subtle nuances seem worlds away from what marriage has evolved to today. Upon closer inspection you might find there are some aspects about courtship and marriage in 16th and 17th century England that don’t differ so strongly

Despite revealing the inequality in society for women, Margaret tries to put an end to the inequality between men and women by describing marriages where both partners are mutually respected. For example, she feels that the ideal marriage is “one of mutual esteem, mutual dependence. Their talk is of business, their affection shows itself by practical kindness” (739). Fuller believes that “mutual esteem” and “mutual dependence” lead to a relationship of equality between a man and woman. She also believes that the couple must not only have mutuality but “affection” in order to maintain equality. In addition, she feels marriages of mutuality and mutuality and affection “meet mind to mind, and a mutual trust is excited, which can buckler them against a million” (742). The author uses this passage to show that

During the Victorian era, feminism became a topic of growing importance in the political realm that quickly spread to varying social worlds and was debated in the public eye with rapidly growing interest. The time-period saw the rise of female writers who unmistakably used their work to disseminate their ideas surrounding women’s political and social rights. Major topics of interests to these writers were traditional gender roles and traits that women were subject to at the time, one being the conventional requirement that women be beautiful. In Sarah Grand’s The Heavenly Twins and Olive Schreiner’s The Story of an African Farm, both authors address their ideals of a “new woman”, but both find the need to mark their new women with the trait

England has always had a rich history of interesting cultural traditions but arguably none as prevalent as marriage. Marriage, the union of two people with emotional ideals and expectations, are brought on by many different factors that include: for love, for money, for climbing social status, escapism, survival, etc. In Jane Austen’s novels, she focuses on the importance of marriage in her world because she wanted to emphasize how marriage is the most important life event of a woman as this would determine her place in society. Persuasion shows readers good and bad examples of marriage: the amiable Crofts and other couples such as Sir Walter & Lady Elliot and the Smiths. Jane Austen uses the Crofts to support the importance of marriage