Rights Of A Woman By Anna Barbauld

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

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

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