Directions: Please carefully read the following poem and comment in this blog space. Think about form, theme, dramatic situation, diction, syntax. Be mindful of how you approach a poem. Also, do you see anything that links this poem to Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice? If so, make direct connections using specifics from the text.
"It’s a Woman’s World"
by Eavan Boland
Our way of life
has hardly changed
since a wheel first
whetted a knife.
Maybe flame
burns more greedily
and wheels are steadier,
but we're the same:
we milestone
our lives
with oversights,
living by the lights
of the loaf left
by the cash register,
the washing powder
paid for and wrapped,
the wash left wet:
like most historic peoples
we are defined
by what we forget
and what we never will be:
star-gazers,
fire-eaters.
It's our alibi
for all time:
as far as history goes
we were never
on the scene of the crime.
When the king's head
gored its basket,
grim harvest,
we were gristing bread
or getting the recipe
for a good soup.
It's still the same:
our windows
moth our children
to the flame
of hearth not history.
And still no page
scores the low music
of our outrage.
Appearances reassure:
that woman there,
craned to
the starry mystery,
is merely getting a breath
of evening air.
While this one here,
her mouth a burning plume -
she's no fire-eater,
just my frosty neighbour
coming home.
In this poem by Eavan Boland, he uses a lot of imagery to get his ideas across to the reader. He also uses dramatic situation to have the reader understand what his meaning is and why it seems like it's a very depressing poem. One example is "and what we never will be: star-gazers, fire-eaters. It's our alibi for all time: as far as history goes we were never on the scene of the crime". He states that women will never be star-gazers, or at the scene of a crime, which makes it feel like he thinks women will never be able to have certain dreams or jobs. He uses these words to express how women are trapped in a ever flowing cycle of not being treated the same and not being able to have dreams of what they want. In the beginning he says "Our way of life has hardly changed since a wheel first whetted a knife". Women's job and place in society has always been to do chores and to do house related jobs. But he uses the words to make us think about how this is wrong and should actually be changed in society.
ReplyDeleteI think the poem is talking about gender equality with women and men and how society places limitations on women. In the poem it talks about how women will never move forward unless they are hungry for change like the, “ fire-eater” and if they don’t try for change they will always just come home to a, “frosty neighbor”. I think they are also addressing how they are viewed by society because it talks about how appearances, “Appearances reassure that woman there craned to the starry mystery.” The writer also talks about how they are never mentioned in history because we were too busy, “we were gristing bread.” I think this perfectly relates to the book Pride and Prejudice because the whole book is about them getting married so they can live a good life and they can only do so with a man. This is because during this time that is how it worked, fathers could not leave their wealth to women and it was a last resort if there was no one else.
ReplyDeleteThe roles of women have changed over time, but for a long time women weren't treated with the same respect men were treated with. "When the king's head gored its basket, grim harvest, we were gristing bread," implies that women had the same roles and responsibility even after "The king" of government changed, saying that it was more of a social norm than a obligation by the government. By the end of the poem, it seems to me that Eavan Boland is saying how the newer generations are not really being well educated about the roles and standards women were supposed to behold, "like most historic peoples we are defined by what we forget." I feel like this poem is directed towards the women living back during this time period and even now for a more general audience, by expressing the inequality there's between male and female.
ReplyDeleteI like how she comes back to the fire that’s mentioned in the second stanza. I interpreted the line “Maybe flame burns more greedily” as a metaphor for women having the desire for more equality and them trying to fight for it. She comes back to fire again in the six stanza again when she writes “and what we never will be: star-gazers, fire-eaters.” So I thought that she meant that the women in her generation can fight all they want but they will never see the outcome of what they are fighting for. She also comes back to it two more times in the poem with one in stanza ten and fourteen. In stanza ten it’s mentioned that “our windows moth our children to the flame
ReplyDeleteof hearth not history” and by that I think she goes back to what she’s kind of saying in stanza six where they might fight for these things in the moment and in front of the men but it won’t go down in history because nothing will change. I think the last time she mentions it in stanza fourteen is one of the most interesting one. She says that the neighbor walking home isn’t a fire eater she’s her frosty neighbor. I think that’s really interesting because I feel like when you read it, it can be interpreted in two ways. The first one is that she’s not fighting with these other women and not speaking up on these issues. The other one is that she’s fought so hard for so long that she’s burned out and there’s only cold left. So either way the ending to the poem really makes you think about what she means.
In the poem "It's a Woman's world" by Eavan Boland, I feel like she is saying that women are always in the background and really don't have a say in much. She says "as far as history goes/we were never/on the scene of the crime." The world of women had always been limited to inside kitchen and she is showing that women were always left out of the important things from history and they were unable to change anything about that. This relates to Pride and Prejudice because in the novel, women are portrayed as background characters in a man's story and everything they do is because they are trying to get the attention of the men. It had always been like that and they thought it would always stay like that. The poet mentions how the world around them is changing like the "wheels are steadier" and it shows how they can see that things are advancing but the world of a woman is not changing at the same pace as the world around them which they have no control over. I think she's also using the title as irony because it's not a woman's world, women were living in a world run by men and they had no control over the important pieces.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I noticed while first reading the poem is that the author gives off a calm tone in the first few lines of the poem. The first stanza, “Our way of life has hardly changed since a wheel first whetted a knife” is basically saying that the life of women hasn’t changed and that this problem has existed since a wheel was first used. Furthermore, the poem talks about how women were too busy working and missed important events, “When the king's head gored its basket, grim harvest, we were gristing bread or getting the recipe for a good soup”. Here the author is saying that women were to busy in the kitchen to witness the killing of the king which could imply how unimportant they were to society. The quote “what we will never be” shows how all women are in a similar position, a place of unchangeability.
ReplyDeleteAlex Rogoff
Nick Criniti
ReplyDeleteI think that this poem has a direct connection to the life we live today. In todays society we all have our ups and downs and the mystery of life in the future continues on but us a people are strong enough to hold our own ground. This poem talks about some of the women in our world and how strong they can be. This poem could also connect to men in someway but it shows how life is viewed. This poem also seems to connect to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in a way. This poem seems to connect to Jane and Elizabeths life.
The message that Eavan Boland is trying to get across to the reader is that women throughout history have not been thought of as significant. She says, “Maybe flame/burns more greedily/and wheels are steadier,/but we are the same.” Boland is trying to explain that over time life may have improved for women little by little, but as a whole there is still much to be done. She uses a lot of metaphors to help the reader understand her point better. These comparisons give the reader a visual representation of what she is trying to say, making it easier for the reader to fully understand the message and ideas of the poem. In the later parts of the poem, Boland expresses the frustration that women have had while living in a world where they are unappreciated by stating, “our windows/moth our children/to the flame/of hearth not history”. Society seems to have drawn the attention of younger generations away from the fact that women are being treated differently to men, causing there to be no signs of change coming anytime soon. Throughout the entirety of the poem, Boland uses her colorful language to get her strong message across about gender equality.
ReplyDeleteThis poem expresses the power of women. Eavan Boland wants every woman to accept their strengths and fight for woman equality. In the poem, she mentioned, "our windows moth our children to the flame of hearth not history," which means that maternal love is great, and the mother is always the first person that a child wants to depend on. The female is delicate, but when she becomes a mother, she can do anything for her child. If women do not strive for influence and equality, then they will trapped in a traditional and restricted society. While I am reading "Pride and Prejudice", I found that Ms. Bennet is a good example. She has no daughter, so she is very eager to marry her daughters to protect her husband’s property because she do not want Mr. Bennet’s nephew, Mr. Collins inherits. Under the social system at the time, this form of inheritance was very unreasonable, so it was necessary for women to come out and rebel, use love and wisdom fight for equality.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “It’s a Woman’s World” by Eavan Boland talks about how women should show their strength and intelligence. Boland wants woman to reveal their hidden talents and strive for equality. The author uses imagery to explain her ideas. For example the “flame burns more greedily” and “fire-eaters’ both symbolize how women want equality. The wheel is used as a symbol to convey the idea of how women are the mechanism that steers our society. At the end of the poem where is talks about the “frosty neighbor” Boland is saying that women shouldn’t stay in their current position and should still fight for equality.
ReplyDeleteIn the Poem “It’s a Woman’s World” by Eavan Boland, he discusses the lack of women in history and how that’s really harming. The tone of this piece is rather angry, but not bitter. The speaker is upset about the lack of women in history. “As far as history goes we were never on the scene of the crime. When the king’s head- gored it’s basket, grim harvest, we were gristling bread, or getting the recipe for a good soup. It’s still the same:”. I love this line because of it’s sarcasm and the author touches up on the fact that women are still erased from history today. I agree with the author that it’s rather disappointing that women were/are often left out of history. Women are beings that can add value to our society so it’s disappointing that they get left out. I think this poem relates directly to the book we are reading, Pride and Prejudice. In pride and Prejudice, the Bennet sisters are marrying to save their familie’s diminishing fortune. The girls have no control of their situation except to marry.
ReplyDeleteMatt Gaetano
ReplyDeleteI really like the way Eavan Boland spread her message. She starts off saying that women haven’t really changed over time. She thinks that despite the changes in society, women still are perceived the same; even if they strive to set a name for themselves, Boland believes that the common perception of women takes over their hard work. To give an example, Boland writes, “we milestone / our lives / with oversights … like most historic peoples / we are defined / by what we forget // and what we never will be…” (9-21). In this, she states that women’s lives are defined by their faults, and not their triumphs; they are defined by the past (not necessarily their past, but the past of women as a whole). She then goes on to encourage women to ignore this and embrace their strengths. She writes, “our windows / moth our children / to the flame / of hearth not history” (36-39). In this context, I think the flame represents her passion to reach equality between men and women. Referring back to the previous quote, She shows how she teaches her children their current state and how to keep fighting for equality and not to revert back to the past, or history.
This poem talks about how women’s role had been less significant in comparison to male’s role in society, as Eavan wrote “Our way of life has hardly changed since a wheel first whetted a knife”. Throughout history, women had been told to stay in homes, kitchens; they had no voice whatsoever. The line “we were never on the scene of the crime” and “we were gristing bread or getting the recipe for a good soup” just shows how much women are unexpected to work outside of homes. At the end of the poem Eavan wrote, “she's no fire-eater, just my frosty neighbour coming home”. Suggesting that things will never change unless women start fight against the repeating cycle. The line “she’s no fire-eater” is a metaphor for a woman whom have lost her ambition, and that she’s just a “neighbour coming home”.
ReplyDeleteGrace Shih
For the duration of the poem It's a Woman's World by Eavan Boland, there are many examples of repetition and dramatic situations. This is telling us how women have the same roll from the 1800s until now, saying that nothing has changed. Women are expected to clean the house, take care of the children, cook every meal, and never get involved in a highly appreciated job or activity. Boland is stating stuff like “we were never on the scene of the crime” to show that our society needs to change. Another example from the poem is when she is referring to the king when he is getting beheaded, women weren't there to witness it because they were to busy getting bread. This shows how women these days do not appreciate what life used to be like for women, and she is trying to educate those about what their life could be like.
ReplyDeleteMaddy Francis
The poem represents the roles of women throughout history. During the time of Pride and prejudice women did not have a huge role. They couldn't inherit any money and couldn't serve in most jobs like the military or positions of power. Their "role" has been to stay at home and clean the house and pick up groceries. This Poem is arguing that women have been away from the major parts of history and now is the time to change.
ReplyDeleteWhat Eavan Boland is saying is that the role of women over time isn't changing. Everything else is changing but the role and treatment of women overtime is not. She says “Maybe flame
ReplyDeleteburns more greedily and wheels are steadier, but we're the same” Meaning that everything has started to evolve and upgrade but the role and treatment of women have not. This connects to Pride and Prejudice because the whole book is about them getting married so they can live a good life with a lot of money.