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What Does Kipling Mean By 'A Female Of The Species'?

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Rudyard Kipling’s poem The Female of the Species has had a great cultural impact, with the title and refrain “The female of the species is more deadly than the male” being seen widely throughout popular culture since its first publication in the Morning Post in 1911. Whilst the poem has been lauded for the presentation of women having “A greater adventurous spirit and more courage than the man,” [1] when one looks deeper Kipling’s distinctly Victorian views of the female of the species are brought to light.
The Female of the Species portrays a world where women remain the property of men. Throughout the poem, the phrase “The Woman that God gave him” is repeated; the use of male possessive pronouns in reference to the female establishes a continuation …show more content…

The message even appears conflicting in some lines, where men know that “The woman that God gave him isn’t his to give away” – in contrast to the possessive pronouns, the female autonomy to choose to whom she is given, rather than her father’s or brothers’ is noted, but it is questionable whether Kipling truly believed in female autonomy or whether he meant that it is God’s right to give away a woman, and not mans’. Keating notes that Kipling “Seems never to have believed that universal suffrage was …show more content…

The use of violent imagery and alliteration in “White-hot… Wild… Warring” also emphasises the women’s dangerous nature. The titular refrain “The female of the species is more deadly than the male” comes and goes throughout the poem, and changes often when it is included. The irregularity of the refrain can be read as being a metaphor for how unpredictably vicious woman can apparently be, with “Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons… [Until] the victim writhes in anguish.” The fact that the women of The Female of the Species have no room for mercy means that man “Dares not leave a place for her” in power. The word “Dares” creates the idea that women given power would attempt to solve all problems with violence, as opposed to using “Suave discussion,” like Kipling’s men

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In summary, the structure of this poem enables the reader to relate to the poem, as the poem consists of information that the readers would agree to, partly because they may have experienced or witnessed the accuracy of the information, in real life. For instance, the poem suggests that “Women offer themselves” – this line can be viewed as being accurate as the reader would be aware about women offering themselves – to men, “for [whom], she is the keeper of mystery, with the power to charm and to poison” – through the prostitution – that takes place within Melbourne’s red-light district area of St

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This is evident due the quote “my lover’s gift to me.”. The speaker refers to her husband as her “Lover” which shows her sheer admiration for him. The poems share the same theme, but present in a wildly contrasting

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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.

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The poem is about the differences between male and female commitment and the abuse they (especially the women) receive. In the first stanza, the writer refers to the first stages of commitment for sex because the women were praised by the Lord for her “flaxen hair” indicating flirting which results to sex. It obvious the Lord’s commitment is pretended; he seduced the ‘cottage maiden’ for sex, his prime objective. Furthermore, what's even more disturbing is that when realising the ‘cottage maiden’ is pregnant, he leaves her ‘like a glove’, for a more fair women, the cousin of the ‘cottage maiden’, Kate.

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“With a love that the wingéd seraphs in Heaven/ coveted her and me.../chilling/ My beautiful/ Annabel Lee ” (11,15-16). The author’s poetic language is able to enhance the message of the theme as well as portray the compulsiveness of the speaker towards his lover that is unquestionably depicted within the stanza the speaker begins to contently delineate his lover, but then rapidly changes his tone and instead shoots accusations at the angels in heaven for tearing apart him from his beloved. The reader can deduce that the speaker had become blinded by the perfections of Annabel Lee and forced himself to believe she had met a sudden demise only because of how strong their love was and still is and not due to superficial reasons. “And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side /Of my darling — my darling — my life and my bride,/ In her sepulchre there by the sea — “ (38-40).

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Judith Butler’s Gender Troubles emphasizes gender as the constant repetition of non-existent ideals to uphold a masculine-dominant culture. Likewise, “Body Politics” highlights this belief within the overtly feminine qualities of city women. As a whole, the poem contrasts idealized feminine “city women” with a “real woman” who possesses both feminine and masculine qualities. The mother figure challenges both the gender binary and the patriarchal order by rejecting the feminine gender norms of the society. This feminist reading of the poem makes many valuable and probable claims, however the feminist approach contains some weaknesses.

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However, parts of the text show how woman have the ability to fulfill their needs as they desire. Lady Bertilak and Morgan le Fay are two prime examples of these woman. While the poem contains many female references and depictions of women, we never truly go in depth about the positions of the women in this poem, who live concealed under their male-adapted

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Another portion of the text that is worth analyzing is whether or not the poet is a real person or a generalization about all or most poets. All of the lines in the poem use general text and never label a specific person. What’s interesting about the text is that without the title it would be nearly impossible to distinguish whether or not the person the poem is about is a poet or not. The way the text allows the reader to find a figurative meaning to the poem is by being vague enough and

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The poem was written in a time where black people and women were dehumanized where those in power abused the power to gain more and those without power were continuously affected by it. Reading the poem and had an impact on me with the dictation of lexis, however all of these feelings were heightened when I listened to the oral performance. The poem starts of in the present tense “Even tonight and I need to take a walk” (Jordan 1) which gives a setting to the scene, in the opening few lines Jordan uses the repetition of “I” and “my” which made the poem for me more personal, the use of repetition in the opening part of the poem produced a deeper connection to the poem, repetition of the words placed emphasis and clarity of the words which came after “my body posture my gender identity my age…” (Jordan

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How and why is the social group of women represented in a particular way within the poems of Gwen Harwood? The social group of women is often focused on by Gwen Harwood as the themes of motherhood and domestic life play an integral role in many of her poems. These themes define a stereotypical role for women representing them as subordinate in a male dominated patriarchal society. Through a range of poems such as In the Park, The Violets and Prize Giving, Harwood portrays women as subservient, inferior and with the main purpose to be household mothers and wives.

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It’s detailed like a memory and provides the audience of just one incidence the narrator was able to recollect. The poem’s main focus is to take a little look into the disparity between traditional feminine

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I didn’t really question myself about who the real identity of ‘her’ was until I re-read the poem three times. The second line is a continuation from the first line; “just twirlin’ her baton” (2). After reading these two lines, I thought to myself, the speaker is referring to a woman,

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This novel is also autobiographical. Throughout history, women have been locked in a struggle to free themselves from the borderline that separates and differentiate themselves from men. In many circles, it is agreed that the battleground for this struggle and fight exists in literature. In a

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Whereas Moore introduced us to the gender in the line “I wonder what Adam and Eve think of it by this time”. “Adam” and “Eve” plays the role as a man and woman in the poem. In Gibran poem, the line “Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls” indicates that the communication between two souls are not bounded with anything and is free to know each other. Whereas in Moore’s poem she tells us that a person would try all kind of things to avoid their marriage as they find that love is an emotional experience and this can be seen in the line “requiring all one’s criminal ingenuity to avoid!”. In the line

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Society’s superficial viewing of women is also reflected in the poem’s wring, as it may seem that this poem is strictly concerned with a prostitute, but in fact it describes all females. The male representative in the poem, Georges, then asserts his superiority, despite their similar conditions of being poor. Although he is sexually attracted to her as he “stiffens for [her] warmth”, suggesting an erection, he is unwilling to accept her as a human being as he deems her question “Why do you do this?”

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