Alex Tischer's
British Literary Crusade
A blog delving into British texts from the last 200 years
Delving into the intricacies of Michael Field's poem 'Maids, not to you my mind doth change', there is a treasure trove of hidden meaning and lessons that, like poetry so often does, enlighten the reader to wildly different perspectives. Michael Field doesn’t exist. The authors behind this poem are two lesbian, female writers named Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper. They wrote behind the facade of a male because their homosexual love was potentially life-threatening if discovered, and if they wrote about loving women from a man’s perspective, readers would just think the poem is about heterosexual love. A genius societal loophole, their poems are interpreted in completely different ways when one knows about the real authors.
Specifically to the poem in question, a dichotomy of belief is evident, even in the first stanza. Men and women, gay and straight, freedom and subservience, these conflicting values collide at the beginning and set the stage for the authors’ themes and lessons. The words allurement and estrangement in lines two and three convey the masculine tendency to confine females into stereotypical gender roles, alluring them into their position and estranging them once there. Lines five and six introduce a love interest in the poem, and I believe show a dual audience that Bradley and Cooper wanted to reach. The line “Between us is no thought of pain” speaks to the lover specifically as having a harmless relationship, but I believe the authors wanted to express that genders don’t have to be always in dispute on which is more privileged. A middle, equal ground is possible for all genders, and should be strived for. Throughout the rest of the poem, that balanced relationship is explored through varying, potentially-treacherous scenarios that a couple goes through. Patience lost and bruises withstood, the couple endures them perfectly with the aid of the gender equality described before. An extraordinary poem in its construction and context of authorship, Bradley and Cooper inconspicuously weaved radical views into seemingly well-trodden romantic poetry. It’s a 19th century finesse of timeless proportion and recognition. Interesting Source - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886920300283
1 Comment
Katie P
5/21/2020 12:32:13 pm
Great work! I think that you nailed every aspect of this poem. I like that you brought up stereotypes and gender roles. Those played a huge factor in society during this time.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |