ipl-logo

Rights Of A Woman By Anna Barbauld

1093 Words5 Pages

The speaker of "Rights of a Woman" , by Anna Barbauld, is almost certainly a woman. This poem is mostly about the power and rights that women have. Although in the eighteenth century this was taboo, it was even more taboo for a woman to receive the same education as men. This poem particularly explains that women can take over the world by putting on metaphorical armor and weapons and dethroning men. It is clearly a response to Mary Wollstonecraft's "AVindication of the Rights of Women," yet although it praises the rights of women, towards the end of the poem Barbauld claims that if a woman loves her husband, she would not worry about equal rights and conquering the world. The overall message for this poem is girl power. The speaker attempts …show more content…

The reader can hear and imagine a marching band of women when reading this poem. The alliteration of the line twenty, "Soften the sullen and clear the cloudy brow" (Barbauld ll. 22) gives a type of melody or musical tone for the poem. There are distinct rhymes with man and command in lines nineteen and twenty. All of these small details and play on words makes this poem sound more like a rally song such as, "The Star Spangled Banner". The lyrics to this anthem deals with war and defeating enemies. In some ways, "Rights of Women" could be a national anthem for …show more content…

The opening word yes in line one could also show the reader that the speaker is replying to someone. Based on the title of Barbauld's poem and Mary Wollstonecraft's poem which is titled, "The Vindication of the Rights of Women", the speaker could be replying to Wollstonecraft. Then the line goes on to claim that all women have rights yet they do not claim them. This could refer to the reason why she uses the word "injured" which could signify a women's role in their attempts to become independent. The speaker continues with "Woman too long degraded, scorned, oppressed" (Barbauld ll. 2), in other words, claiming that women have been used and stomped on for too long. This is the speakers way of grabbing women's attention and trying to show them what they have looked over for so many years. In line three, the speaker says that women were born to rule, yet "Law", which is spelled with a capitol L, has kept women suppressed and beaten down. In other words, the women were born to rule despite Laws prejudice against them. Line four calls women to take over their natural palace before their hearts and feelings. This line could cause some confusion for the reader. What Barbauld is saying is that a women can rule yet the natural place to rule is the concept of

Show More
Related
1329 Words | 6 Pages

The context of the text was to support women’s rights by encouraging women to better themselves as wives by valuing intelligence and culture over beauty. The audience that this speech is targeted towards is women. She specifies women as the audience by tailoring her speech towards women and appealing to their emotions, situations, and circumstances. For example, she says, “I could not believe that God gad created so many homely women, and suffered all to lose their beauty in the very maturity of their powers, and yet made it our duty

Read More
682 Words | 3 Pages

She emphasize on the word “he” referring to men dominating women. She talks about education to even marriage being controlled by the men. Women never had the say so for their life. It also addresses the freedom and equality for women in the courtroom. Women never got the chance to have the positions that left them to make decisions for justice it was always men.

Read More
1809 Words | 8 Pages

The different key features also plays an important role for example the tone that is being formed by the lyrical voice that can be seen as a nephew or niece. This specific poem is also seen as an exposition of what Judith Butler will call a ‘gender trouble’ and it consist of an ABBA rhyming pattern that makes the reading of the poem better to understand. The poem emphasizes feminist, gender and queer theories that explains the life of the past and modern women and how they are made to see the world they are supposed to live in. The main theories that will be discussed in this poem will be described while analyzing the poem and this will make the poem and the theories clear to the reader. Different principals of the Feminist Theory.

Read More
1354 Words | 6 Pages

As one entity fighting for their rights, women would eventually earn the right to vote. To finish off the poem, “...Makes a fountain of touches/Truly divine” is the perfect summation of the feminist movement, and can be applied to the fight against racism, homosexims, violence, and more. It is incredible to think that a simple touch, physically or emotionally, has the power to shape the world. The poem tells me that with my hope, your hope, and the hope of all women put together, anything is possible. We come from different backgrounds, color, genders, and religions; yet we are touching the lives of each other as well as the lives of those around us.

Read More
1686 Words | 7 Pages

Attitude: The attitude of the poem is assertive and defiant. The speaker, who represents women as a collective, refuses to accept the traditional gender roles imposed on them and demands recognition and equality. There is a sense of empowerment and determination in the speaker's stance. 1st Stanza: Tone: Critical, Indignant Attitude: Defiant

Read More
602 Words | 3 Pages

The central idea for “Woman’s right to Suffrage,” is men and women should be treated equal. Woman can do just as much as what men can do, woman should be treated like people and like we matter cause honestly we do. “Woman’s right to the Suffrage” Susan B. Anthony is most compelling because she uses solid legal evidence.

Read More
770 Words | 4 Pages

Another document, Speech at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, explains that women should be equal to men. The author shows the audience that women are powerful and strong and deserve equal rights. “the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone”, a powerful quote from the speech, shows how the speaker advocates for women's equality. Also, the background information explains

Read More
459 Words | 2 Pages

This becomes evident in a lack of information about the type of society, and the reader therefore lacks a complete understanding of how the women are oppressed. As a whole, this poem sets forth the idea that female gender is fluid, and asks its readers to questions what it means to be a woman in a male dominant

Read More
1137 Words | 5 Pages

In today’s world, it seems to be that women have the same rights as men, but it wasn't always this way. The speech “Women’s Rights to Suffrage” by Susan B Anthony is the most compelling of all. Susan B Anthony persuades the audience that all women should have the same rights as men. It’s shown through the speech that the federal constitution says “we the people”, the government has no right to take away rights from just one gender, and that women are considered people as well. The fact that the constitution says “we the people” is a primary point in this speech.

Read More
1125 Words | 5 Pages

This becomes an issue when these men outside of the commander think they have some type of control over the women. The status of men being over women is also seen through the government issues. In this episode, for example when the government forced employers to lay off all women from their jobs (Atwood

Read More
886 Words | 4 Pages

Louise Bogan shows how women are not treated fairly by using metaphors throughout her poem. The metaphors helped create meaning and emotion and helped the reader have a better understanding of the poem. Bogan states women have a good heart but cannot use it to their desire by saying, “Content in the tight hot cell of their hearts” (3). The cell Bogan describes helps the reader understand the confinement being shown in this line. Men only saw women as property in this time period and women could not do anything about it because that is how society viewed them.

Read More
730 Words | 3 Pages

She is describing how men want things done their way and women who do not cater to their needs get punished. The men never take responsibilities for their actions towards their women. This entire poem signifies how women bend over backward for their husband and get no rewards or praises in the end. Sor Juana is considered a feminist because she is in favor of women being well educated and having the right to pursue their dreams. Sor Juana turned down several suitors who approached her with marriage proposals.

Read More
775 Words | 4 Pages

In the book of vindication of the right of a woman, Wollstonecraft brings out clearly the roles of a woman in her society and how it has led to oppression of women (Wollstonecraft 22). Wollstonecraft believes that men and women are equal given the same environment and empowerment, women can do anything a man can do. In her society, education for women is only aimed at making her look pleasing to men. Women are treated as inferior being and used by men as sex objects. Wollstonecraft believed that the quality of mind of women is the same with that of men, and therefore women should not be denied a chance for formal education that will empower them to be equal with men.

Read More
391 Words | 2 Pages

In the first stanza, the metaphor comparing women to a wheel, when it states" our way of life has hardly changed since a wheel first whetted a knife" enhances how strong women are. A wheel has multiple parts to it, thus saying how women are important in multiple ways, as mothers and wives, among other things. The definitive and aggressive tome in these two stanzas point out how women are still disrespected and always have been. Boland's anger towards this conception of a woman's world is also shown in lines 11-16 through an angry tone, when she articulates "living by the lights, of the loaf left by the cash register, the washing powder paid for and wrapped," This indicates she doesn't like how women work their basic jobs and that they're stronger than that. This definitive tone is also shown when she writes, "we are

Read More
762 Words | 4 Pages

This is shown in the opening line when she says, “If you grow up the type of women...” Throughout this poem, Kay explores the themes of empowerment and identity, through the use of repetition and connotation. Through the frequent use of repetition, Kay puts emphasis on how women are defined in relation to males. Additionally, she also uses connotation to remind women they are more than what they are perceived to be in relation to others and they have the power to define themselves. Therefore the main idea of the poem is to perhaps remind women of their worth and inspire them to define themselves on their own terms, and not through the eyes of men or in comparison/relation to their relationship with others.

Read More

More about Rights Of A Woman By Anna Barbauld

Related Topics

Open Document