The Social Status of Women in Anna Letitia Barbaulds Poem the Rights of Woman - Essay Example

ANALYZE ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD’S POEM: ‘THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN’. Anna Letitia Brabauld’s poem The Rights of Woman is widely acknowledged to have been a response to Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘Vindication of Rights of Woman’. Even so, it has been suggested that Brabauld had, in her response, misread Wollstonescraft since the latter like Brabauld ‘…rejects at length the ideology of “angel pureness,” “soft melting tones,” and “blushes and fears” – and she certainly did not shun “discussion” of women’s rights!’ (McCarthy, William and Kraft, Elizabeth, ed., date?). From the above introduction, it follows that the theme in the poem The Rights of Woman is, as the title suggests, one that deals with the social status of women particularly between the eighteenth and nineteenth century. “In his discussion of poetry by…Anna Laetitia Brabauld,” Wordsworth writes “[t]heir themes are those of their male contemporaries – love, war, politics, the riddle of the universe, the relation of man and nature” (Sandy, Mark. May 2001). In relation to this observation by Wordsworth, Brabauld expresses in the poem that women ought to fight oppression and gender- conventional roles by standing up and “…assert thy right!”. She reflects that women’s rights are just “felt, not defined, and if debated, lost;/…withheld from fame;/Shunning discussion…” Brabauld further writes that the female ought to “Try all that wit and art suggest to bend/ Of thy imperial foe the stubborn knee.” It is understandable that the poet fully asserts that women can have as much part in political power and in other higher and superior professions as men. All that the fairer sex has to do is to “assert” themselves and “Make treacherous Man thy subject, not thy friend.” The ideals in the poem is expressed by the poet in a “…perfectly Horation, elegantly, polished, and harmoniously easy” style (The Westminster Magazine, June 1776: p-283-85). There is “…little tension between domesticity and artistic creation”. The language is thus simple but clear and precise (Wilson, Carol S., 2005) Brabauld uses feminine yet meaningful imagery as in “angel pureness which admits no stain” to refer to women - their frailty, innocence and subjection to the male dominance; in that the fairer sex is obliged to remain that way, never being free to take part of things other than those that include the performance of her role while even so, never being free to oppose opinions or express her opinions. Brabauld even so suggest that the female’s status and role in society is only as a “courted idol” of whose nature includes “soft melting tones” and “Blushes and fears”. The imagery in the later part of the poem suggests the female to “Soften the sullen, clear the cloudy brow…” since the share of power (by the female) – “…the golden scepter of thy reign”, would no doubt often put her in a worried and depressed state. Anna Letitia Brabauld differed from most of the Romantic women poets. The concerns she expressed in her works were mostly those that were not yet truly accepted (being from a female) in the contemporary society. Though there were women writers during the time, their works however reflected feminine sensibility. For instance, women in that era were still subject to whatever the male thought was right. It was not for women to express their opinions regarding cause, effect or solution to any aspect of society. Rather, the woman was only the caretaker of the family, the household and the things that went on therein. Even so, those were the very things on which women writers in the Romantic age wrote about. They reflected their female sensibility by “making a virtue out of the necessities of feminine existence” (Curran, Stuart. 2005). On the other hand though, “Brabauld did not take the male philosophical traditions…as an inert model but reconstructed them through critique” (Feldman, Paula R. and Kelly, Theresa M. ed., 1995). “This is not to abdicate from history but to recognize that history changes: the category of gender changes our sense of what we know, what we need to know and how we know it” (Feldman, Paula R. and Kelly, Theresa M. ed., 1995). In a society where women education was still something controversial, Brabauld “…subscribed to the doctrine…that educated mother-teacher could best influence the direction of society through her work at home” (Wilson, Carol S., 2005). She writes in Evenings at Home that “Human art and industry transforms sand and ashes into beautiful glass, or old rags into paper on which learning may be miraculously inscribed (Evenings,p. 134,148)” (Wilson, Carol S., 2005). Thus, it can be understood that Brabauld was not entirely a feminist in that she tried to make women aware, alongside that of their domestic roles, of further horizons in the social realm. The poem all the more clarifies the stance mentioned above when Brabauld proclaims “…assert thy right!/ Woman! too long degraded, scorned, opprest” , “Go bid proud Man his boasted rule resign,/ And kiss the scepter of thy reign.” Further, as have been pointed earlier, the poet urges the fairer sex to “Try all that wit and art suggest to bend/ Of thy imperial foe the stubborn knee./ Make treacherous Man thy subject, not thy friend;/Thou mayst command…” The poem, in contrast to the contemporary women’s works of sensibility, was a “protest poem…of public speech as it addresses the entire female sex…” (The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 2005). Thus, it can be said that while other romantic women writers expressed mere sense of “questions” on “women’s rights, women’s proper place, women’s duties, and women’s nature” in their works (Thackeray,1811), “…Mrs. Brabauld’s poetical compostions” had “a masculine force in them, which the most vigorous of our poets has not excelled: there is nothing, indeed, feminine belonging to them, but a certain gracefulness of expression (in which dignity and beauty are both included) that marks them for the production of a Female hand” (The Westminster Magazine, June1776: p. 283-85). Having noted the anti-feminist nature of Anna Letitia Brabauld’s works, it should also be noted that the poet does however partly incline herself to the feminist side. For instance, in the poem the poet states that women are “born to rule in partial law”. Further, she states that of the fairer sex that “Thou mayst command, but never canst be free.” The given line can be said to be applicable even to our own day and age. No matter how accomplished a woman is, she would still be a woman – the wife, the mother, the caretaker of the husband and children; the strength, support and protection of emotions, the spiritual foundation of the family. Brabauld further reflects her feminine sensibility according to that of her time when she says “But hope not…/ on this proud eminence to stay…/…thou soon shalt find/ Thy coldness soften, and thy pride give way.” The poet foresaw and fully knew that the nature of women, after all is said and done, would be to “…abandon each ambitious thought,/ Conquest or rule…” since “In Nature’s school, by her soft maxims taught,/ That separate rights are lost in mutual love.” In conclusion, it can only be said that though Anna Letitia Brabauld asserted that women fight for social equality; she was not, however, oblivious of the fact that a woman will still be a woman. Affection, love, care, gentleness, fears, delight are her attributes. These are the things that would withhold her from entirely pursuing her “ambitious thoughts”. This was what the poet herself surrendered to. References: The Westminster Magazine (June, 1776). OBSERVATIONS OF FEMALE LITERATURE IN GENERAL, INCLUDING SOME PARTICULARS RELATING TO MRS. MONTAGU AND MRS. BARBAULD. Retrieved on April 1, 2009 from: http://www.usask.ca/english/barbauld/criticism/duncombe.html Thackeray, Miss (1811). FEMINISM AND ANTI-FEMINISM: Anna Letitia Barbauld. Retrieved on April 1, 2009 from: http://www.wwnorton.com/nrl/english/nael72/Period1Romantic/CourseSessions1/WomenBarbauld.html McCarthy, William and Kraft, Elizabeth, ed. (Date?). Anna Letitia Brabauld Selected Poetry and Prose, The Right of Woman, p. 130-31. Broadview Press. Retrieved on April 1, 2009 from: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=ca32qdfJD-UC&dq=anna+letitia+poetic+imagery&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=CGbTSZ7JBZnU7AOh0_CYBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=12&ct=result Feldman, Paula R. and Kelly, Theresa M. ed (1995). Romantic Women Writers Voices and Countervoices, p. 15-16. University Press of New England, Hanover and London. Retrieved on April 1, 2009 from: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=SqwbE6B6mcMC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=isobel+armstrong-+the+gush+of+the+fiminine&source=bl&ots=YOpzDZcYuD&sig=8esvwrqGT9XB4Yk5jS70L_nj158&hl=en&ei=UHPTSaTxAYrm6gPwz6ShBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA15,M Sandy, Mark (May 2001). Romanticism on the Net 22 (Jonathan Wordsworth, The Bright Work Grows: Women Writers of the Romantic Age). Retrieved on April 1, 2009 from: http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2001/v/n22/005980ar.html The Norton Anthology of Poetry (2005). Anna Letitia Barbauld (1743-1825). Retrieved on April 1, 2009 from: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nap/Rights_of_Woman_Anna.htm The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Wilson, Carol S (2005). Lost Needles, Tangled Threads: Stitchery, Domesticity, and the Artistic Enterprise in Barbauld, Edgeworth, Taylor, and Lamb (from Wilson, Carol S and Haefner, Joel, ed. Re-visioning Romanticism: British Women Writers, 1776- 1834. The University of Pennsylvania 1994). Retrieved on April 1, 2009 from: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nap/Carol_Shiner_Wilson_Anna.htm The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Curran, Stuart (2005). Romantic Poetry: The I Altered (from Mellor, Anne K. ed. Romanticism and Feminism, Indiana University Press, 1988), Retrieved on April 1, 2009 from: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nap/Stuart_Curran_Anna.htm Read More