Sunrise

By Lizette Woodworth Reese

The east is yellow as a daffodil.
Three steeples — three stark swarthy arms — are thrust
Up from the town. The gnarled poplars thrill
Down the long street in some keen salty gust —
Straight from the sea and all the sailing ships —
Turn white, black, white again, with noises sweet
And swift. Back to the night the last star slips.
High up the air is motionless, a sheet
Of light. The east grows yellower apace,
And trembles: then, once more, and suddenly,
The salt wind blows, and in that moment’s space
Flame roofs, and poplar-tops, and steeples three;
From out the mist that wraps the river-ways,
The little boats, like torches, start ablaze.

I decided to adopt the poem “Sunrise” by Lizette Woodworth Reese simply because of the title. Watching the sunrise is genuinely one of my favorite parts of the day. I enjoy being awake and at peace with the world before the day’s chaos truly begins. I had never read this poem before, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading and analyzing the text.

Before learning about the author, I did not know much about her. I found myself in complete awe of this gifted woman and believe she deserves to be shared. Lizette Woodworth Reese (1856–1935) was an American poet known for her evocative verse and keen observation of nature. Born in Maryland, Reese spent most of her life in Baltimore, where she taught English in public schools for over fifty years. Despite her dedication to teaching, Reese found time to pursue her passion for poetry, publishing numerous collections of verse throughout her lifetime.

Reese’s poetry often explores themes of nature, love, loss, and the passage of time. Her work is characterized by its lyrical beauty, vivid imagery, and sensitivity to the distinctions of everyday life. While she never achieved widespread fame during her lifetime, Reese’s poetry has since gained recognition for its depth and emotional resonance.

In addition to her writing, Reese was actively involved in literary circles in Baltimore. One of my favorite details about her was that she was a member of the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore and served as its honorary president from 1922 until her death. Reese also co-founded and performed as the poetry chair for Baltimore’s Women’s Literary Club, where she contributed to the city’s vibrant cultural life.

Despite facing personal tragedies and setbacks, including the loss of her husband and several children, Reese continued to write poetry with resolute dedication. She was an impressive woman whose enduring legacy lies in her ability to capture the beauty and complexity of life through her words, leaving behind a body of work that continues to inspire readers today.

Reese’s poem “Sunrise” was published in her book “A Branch of May” in 1887. The poem paints a vivid picture of dawn breaking over a town. It begins with a vibrant image of the eastern sky, likened to the color of a daffodil, a flower often associated with joy, renewal, and the arrival of spring. This immediate comparison sets a tone of optimism and vitality, suggesting that the sunrise brings a sense of rejuvenation and beauty. The mention of three steeples rising from the town’s skyline are described as stark and swarthy, adding a sense of solidity and permanence to the scene. I believe this also symbolizes spiritual aspiration and human endeavor to reach the heavens.

A beautiful Charleston sunrise, “The east is yellow as a daffodil.”

Reese’s inclusion of sensory details enhances the reader’s immersion in the scene. She shifts focus to the natural elements, describing the poplar trees as “gnarled” and “thrilling” down the long street as they sway from a salty gust. This is likely indicative of the town’s proximity to the sea. The imagery of sailing ships creates a sense of movement, while the image of the poplars turning white, black, and white again in the changing light further emphasizes the dynamic nature of the sunrise and its transformative effect on the landscape.

The last star slips from view as the night fades away, and the air becomes still, draped in a light sheet. The gradual intensification of the eastern sky is described as it turns increasingly yellow, building anticipation for the sunrise. Throughout the poem, Reese precisely captures the gradual transition from night to today. The fading of the last star and the motionlessness of the air create a moment of suspended anticipation before dawn, heightening the sense of expectation and wonder.

The poem’s climax occurs with a sudden burst of energy from the salty wind as the east grows yellower and trembles with anticipation. This culminates in the dramatic imagery of flame roofs, poplar tops, and steeples illuminated by the rising sun. This moment of revelation symbolizes the awakening of the town and the transformative power of light to bring about renewal and vitality.

Reese concludes with the evocative image of a mist-wrapped river coming to life as the little boats, described as “torches,” are ignited by the sun’s rays. This image adds warmth and activity to the serene morning scene, reinforces the theme of illumination, and suggests a sense of interconnectedness between the natural world and human activity.

“Sunrise” is a masterful exploration of the beauty and symbolism of a coastal town awakening to the dawn. Reese’s use of vivid imagery and sensory details invites readers to contemplate the profound significance of light and renewal in the natural world.

“Lizette Woodworth Reese.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lizette-woodworth-reese.

by Elli Batchelor

When scouring the list of potential poems for this assignment, I felt an instant connection to Sophie Jewett’s “I Speak Your Name” and knew I had to explore it in more detail. There is little to no scholarship about this poem, even though Sophie Jewett does have some biographical information available on the Internet as well as some other entries on the Poetry Foundation website. The lack of information about this specific poem is disappointing because I found myself absolutely captivated by it, despite its apparent simplicity. What drew me to this poem, in particular, is its queerness.

As a queer person myself, I interpreted “I Speak Your Name” as a tender account of a woman’s private love for her female friend and it evokes many personal feelings about discovering my own sexuality. It has been a rather common joke that most queer people undergo some sort of intense homoerotic friendship in their younger years, something that does not quite resemble platonic companionship or a concrete romantic relationship but a mystifying connection that exists somewhere in the middle. This poem speaks to this experience of liminality and threads a metaphorical balance between distance and closeness throughout.

The first line of the poem “I speak your name in alien ways” implies both the speaker’s familiarity with the poem’s subject, who we later learn is named Margaret, as well as introducing the idea that something about this action feels foreign to the speaker (Jewett 1). Perhaps this refers to a confession of sorts, so it’s the first time that the speaker addresses any feelings out loud and it feels alien to her, or it could be implied that the subject is now married and her name is thus literally different. The first stanza continues to carry a bittersweet tone, as Jewett refers to November smiling and crying simultaneously. She references seasons and nature quite a bit in this stanza and the next, which could be a testament to her unwavering love for her friend no matter the conditions or how much time has passed. She mentions November and autumn the most, along with accompanying imagery. While there is no real backing to this, fall has become associated with gay women in modern pop culture. There are jokes about how queer women always pick autumn as their favorite season, and there is also the massively popular song “We Fell in Love in October” by girl in red, which became a sort of mainstream gay pop culture staple in recent years and always resurfaces at that time of year. While obviously there is no substantial connection between autumn and “being gay”, it is interesting that the autumnal imagery is so consistent throughout a 19th-century poem that deals with forbidden queer yearning.

The last stanza is probably my favorite and what really sold me on this queer interpretation. It’s tinged with religious guilt and trauma, which I know a lot of queer people relate to very intimately. She asserts that because of her love, “God set / His sea between our eyes” (Jewett 10-11). She may view their distance as a punishment from God, which her desire brought about. However, she notes that she is not worried by this. She believes Margaret’s “soul’s truth” will meet her “soul’s demand”, which is “more near than hand in hand” (Jewett 12-13). Here again, we see this balance between physical and metaphorical distance and the idea that their relationship functions on a liminal plane. The last two lines are by far my favorite, as she writes, “And low to God, who listens, Margaret, / I speak your name” (Jewett 14-15). The act of speaking Margaret’s name mirrors an act of love, in the way that Jewett repeatedly calls upon it throughout the poem. The use of her real name here has a strong emotional effect since we finally get to know the name that is spoken so often. The commas offsetting it also make these words feel like a whisper uttered on a pillow before bed, like a private act that only the two of them know about. I can’t decide how exactly I want to take these two lines, however, both of my interpretations are equally devastating. She could be quietly praying to God for her lover, in the face of a society that does not accept her desire. Or perhaps she is speaking her lover’s name quietly so God will not hear, as she believes He will condemn her love. Either way, this queer desire is something that cannot exist freely, even though it appears to be reciprocated. I cannot help but see myself in this poem, as I remember moments when I too felt such intense desire mixed in with a sense of impossibility. I had to experience everything in secret, struggling to name what exactly I was feeling. This sense of complicated yearning is reflected in this poem and I foresee myself returning to this poem in the future, as both a queer person and lover of 19th-century poetry with distinctly queer undertones (thank you, Emily Dickinson). I am thankful for the introduction to a new poet!

The poem in its entirety:

I SPEAK your name in alien ways, while yet
November smiles from under lashes wet.
In the November light I see you stand
Who love the fading woods and withered land,
Where Peace may walk, and Death, but not Regret.

The year is slow to alter or forget;
June’s glow and autumn’s tenderness are met.
Across the months by this swift sunlight spanned,
I speak your name.

Because I loved your golden hair, God set
His sea between our eyes. I may not fret,
For, sure and strong, to meet my soul’s demand,
Comes your soul’s truth, more near than hand in hand;
And low to God, who listens, Margaret,
I speak your name.

Works Cited:

Jewett, Sophie. “I Speak Your Name.” Poetry Nook.

“We Fell in Love in October.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Mar. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Fell_in_Love_in_October.

“Go Down, Moses” is an African American folk song from the 1800s that uses the biblical story of Moses leading the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt. The song was known to be sung by enslaved peoples in America, as well as sung by abolitionists, as a call for freedom. The song has no accredited author because, like many other folk songs, it was thought to have been made collectively by a community. While the direct origins of said community are unknown, it was famously sung throughout the pre-Civil War South by enslaved people.

Artistic Interpretation of the Story of Moses and the Israelites

Go down, Moses
’Way down in Egypt land,
Tell ole Pharaoh,
To let my people go.

When Israel was in Egypt’s land;          
Let my people go,
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.

Moses was the leader of the Jewish people who were being enslaved in Egypt and his story is told in Exodus. God instructed Moses to travel into Southern Egypt to lead the Jewish people out of enslavement. God then gave Moses the instructions to warn the Pharaoh of ten plagues that would torment the Egyptians if they did not free the Jewish slaves. The refrain of the poem references Moses’ advocation of God’s declare to, “Let my people go.”

The first stanza of the song adopts God’s voice as it instructs Moses’ journey to free his people. This section can also be allegorical to the struggles of black slaves in the south. Egypt Land represents the southern states who were the most egregious example of American slavery at the time as well as where many of the singers of the song lived. The Pharaohs represent both the families and systems in the south that kept many people enslaved. The second stanza outlines what the result of release could mean to both American slaves as well as the Israelites. The Jewish people were supposed to live in the promised land of Israel if they had not been enslaved by the Egyptians. This can both represent how the African slaves in America could have been living in their homelands if not for the Atlantic Slave Trade and European involvement in West Africa. When using an abolitionist lens, it could be surmised that Israel in this song could also represent the Northern American States which was where many escaped slaves settled. The oppression mentioned is both a representation of the continued mistreatment of Jewish people as well as black people throughout generations.

This song spoke to me personally because I found the parallels drawn between both black and Jewish communities interesting. The biblical story itself is relevant to enslaved people in America as indoctrination into Christianity was a key element of the system of slavery. Many slaves attended church and sang religious hymns to pass time or express themselves. The idea that they would sing about a book of the Bible is not surprising. However, the way in which the story of Moses became allegorical to American Slavery is.

Enslaved people in America were desperate for freedom, often inciting riots or escaping through the underground railroad. Looking to God is a reasonable response to such desire, however, “Go Down, Moses” is not a religious song at its core. It is essentially a call for the eventual fall of slavery in America. The most interesting part of the song is the Pharaoh. While the Pharaoh is seen as a strong figure, often with total control and power over Egypt. But under God’s will, he is destined to fall. This same sentiment is passed onto the American Pharoah, Slavery. Enslaved people and the abolitionists who aided the escape of many slaves knew that while slavery was strong and integral to the function of America, it could not function without the people themselves and the country was at odds with each other over the subject of enslavement. My perception of the song was that it was more than a protest to oppression, but a way to assure oneself of the eventual fall of slavery in America. Through the song, you can see how the unsuredness of slavery was growing as the underground railroad grew and abolitionists became more vocal. The song functions the same as the phrase “Let my people go”, they are both warnings.

Works Cited:

“Go Down, Moses” Poetry for Students. . Encyclopedia.Com. 15 Apr. 2024 .” Encyclopedia.Com, Encyclopedia.com, 23 Apr. 2024, www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/go-down-moses.

“Exodus, Chapter 5.” USCCB, bible.usccb.org/bible/exodus/5#:~:text=1Afterwards%2C%20Moses%20and%20Aaron,for%20me%20in%20the%20wilderness.%E2%80%9D. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The poem I adopted was Trumbull Stickney’s “Be Still. The Hanging Gardens Were a Dream.” A Poetry Foundation article I read called, “Trumbull Stickney,” discussed how Trumbull died at 30 and showed promise in his poetic craft but never fully came into his own distinct style before his death. This point in different words came up multiple times in the short biographical note and I was taken aback because that seemed somewhat cruel to say about his work.

I wasn’t able to read a lot of his work beyond the poem I was studying and had never heard of him prior to this activity, but I found the poem and him as a person to be rather interesting. Especially after reading a poetry analysis by AllPoetry which explained the poem as portraying “the ephemerality of human existence and the futility of yearning for the past” considering Trumbull’s denouncing places and people of Western legends, the repeated “Be still” that they think is an urge for the reader to accept their own hopeless fate, and contemporary 19th century disillusionment and skepticism.

Admittedly on my first few reads of the poem before finding this analysis, I was somewhat lost trying to understand it. I picked it because I loved the beautiful language and references to places I’ve heard of in history and mythology classes, specifically the Hanging Gardens themselves which I understood as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the 7 Wonders of the World and, I always thought, a somewhat romantic story of Nebuchadnezzar having them made for his homesick wife. Beyond the solid images I had of those classic references, the confusing syntax, and abstract approach left me with only a vague impression.

Both the analysis and the biographical note stated that classical allusions were common for Trumbull, he seemed very taken with them throughout his career and I noticed the poem itself was at least somewhat adhering to Iambic pentameter, not classical in a Greek or Roman stance, but a classic meter for western poetry, so I saw that as a parallel too. The Poetry Foundation said this fixation of his could’ve come along because his parents were a college professor and the descendent of a governor, both well off financially and educationally. It felt like an unspoken argument was that from his access to good schooling and travel, he adopted the infatuation with the classics as a starting point for his poetic career. Unfortunately, I can’t for the life of me figure out when “Be Still: The Hanging Gardens Were a Dream” was published, but considering he was earliest published while in college, graduated in 1895, and died in 1904, in theory, it really couldn’t have been that long before the end of his life.

I  think his poem could be viewed as prophetic of his own premature end and stifled poetic career or even a commentary on a failed love considering the Poetry Foundation also references an affair he had from 1896-1899. For the death prophecy, I’m arguing that the visions he references as dreams, fleeting but beautiful while they last (The Hanging Gardens, Troy, Scamander Stream, Provence and Troubadour, Venice) could also refer to his aspirations as a poet wanting to create something comparable to legendary European cities, accomplishments, and myths (lines 1,4 5-6). The word Troubadour in particular caught my eye because I recognized it from a music appreciation class I took last semester, they were essentially lyric poets and singers from medieval France (line 5). He calls their existence lies and I wonder if it’s out of frustration for his own struggle to find his distinct poetic voice, or if it could be interpreted as prophecizing that he would never reach that ideal status. In lines 9, “Thou foolish thing, thou canst not wake” and 10 the “foolish thing” could mean his own resistance to waking up from the dream of what could’ve been despite knowing it’s impossible to achieve for himself. “Thy brain is plagued” in line 12 could also be talking about the strain his creative endeavors put on himself.

On the other hand with the affair theory, as I said, The Hanging Garden presumably referencing Babylon’s could be viewed as a catalyst of love which Trumbull denounces (line 1). He also talks of roses kissing Semiramis’ lashes, roses and kisses being romantic notions while Semiramis herself was known for being a wife and queen with legends explicating her relationships, and depictions as a very beautiful woman (lines 2-3). Troubadours were known for singing love songs in particular, which may explain the mention of them if we take this interpretation (line 5). Attention to describing hair, eyes, and sunsets in lines 6-7 also reminds me of romantic works. Trumbull talks of “tears [unable to] wedge thy soldered lids apart” which may be referring to the aftermath of his failed affair, while in the previous line, the “foolish thing” may be his own reluctance to let go of the relationship (lines 9-10). Instead, he says the tears assault his heart, the organ associated with love, as well as his brain, which would provide the motivation for the poem as an outlet for the pain his heartbreak causes him (lines 11-12). He may be calling himself “Blind with the light of life thou ’ldst not forsake,” for wanting to keep living in the fantasy of their love. While the “Error loves and nourishes thy soul” line may be playing with the word loves as a double entendre, the error being the affair, and his nourished soul possibly refers to the experience fueling his poetry (lines 13-14).

Knowing the time the poem was written or published and more context on his affair would make it a lot easier to tell which interpretation may be more applicable, but I think either are fun and feasible possibilities.

Works Cited

“Be Still: The Hanging Gardens Were a Dream by Trumbull Stickney.” All Poetry, All Poetry, allpoetry.com/Be-Still:-The-Hanging-Gardens-were-a-Dream. Accessed 21 Apr. 2024. 

Pryor, JJ. Hanging Gardens of Babylon. 26 Jan. 2023. Threw the Looking Glass, TLG, threwthelookingglass.com/hanging-gardens-of-babylon/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2024. 

Stickney, Trumbull. “Be Still. the Hanging Gardens Were a Dream By… | Poetry Foundation.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45238/be-still-the-hanging-gardens-were-a-dream. Accessed 21 Apr. 2024. 

“Trumbull Stickney.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/trumbull-stickney. Accessed 21 Apr. 2024.

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot 
Refrain:
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see,
Coming for to carry me home.
I saw a band of angels coming after me,
Coming for to carry me home.

[Refrain]

If you get back to heaven before I do,
Coming for to carry me home.
You’ll tell all your friends I’ll be coming there too,
Coming for to carry me home.

[Refrain]

Swing Low Sweet Chariot is a spiritual song that really goes deep into the messaging it wishes for not only its own personal audience, but one that has evolved into new forms that have taken on their own meaning throughout the years. The piece has made its way into so many pieces of media that it takes on the meaning of what that media wishes for it to represent. As it came it came as a great surprise to me that upon researching the topic and listening to the full original song, its original purpose came into an entirely new perspective. 

When I originally heard “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” it was very much a different atmosphere and style then in the original. This was in a cartoon and it was mostly played for a darkly comedic subversion. Only the title was sung and it was sung when a father had to flush down his son’s dead goldfish only then to quickly go to the store and buy another one so that his son would not know the difference between the goldfish and not have his young heart broken. This repeated several times until the father would only sing “Swing Low…” before the show would just cut to him flushing the evidence away. My experience with this when I was young made me think of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” as less of a song and more of a phrase one would say when trying to respect the dead. It was only with this research that I would gain a better understanding of what the poem really meant to the people who created it. 

The original writer of the lyrics of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” are unknown, that it is because it was originally sung as an African-American spiritual and was sung by those who were enslaved on plantations in the American South. As they sang about the freedom they would get from either their death or by being able to escape to the north. The angels in the song could reference the angels coming to pick them up and send them to their ultimate destination which would be heaven and away from being forced to work without end. However some aspects differ like James Martin, a spirituals expert and Juilliard graduate says that, “Sweet Chariot was a sign of hope that someone was coming to help… So it has always been not just an inspirational hope but a real hope.” 

It has also come to my attention that this song has been sung by English rugby fans as early as the 1960’s and has taken on as their sort of team song when cheering for their team along with rude gestures to point at the opposing teams. This creates a problem as some say that it is very inappropriate to turn a song about the horrors of slavery into a song to encourage your home rugby team. This issue came to light as recently as the 2020’s as the black lives matter protests have brought many similar issues to the public eye. These people who may have thought it was just a song to sing in bars and pubs could very well be taking the place in a sort of mockery of those who sung these songs to mourn the loss of those lost to slavery. Which really puts the entire song into question when used by others. 

As I mentioned when I first heard the song it was in a comedic situation and that is where it will always be in my memory of the first time I heard it. However it now comes to my attention that it has a much deeper and impactful meaning that could be considered offensive to those who hold it in very high regard. I feel like it would have been just as easy if the writers were to use another song that can be associated with the dead, without being potentially offensive to the African-Americans who were once enslaved. They could have used another song or have written their own version of the song. Either way I as a writer will take more care into what I plan on sampling in the future if I just wish for simple laughs.

Works Cited 

Eversley, Melanie. “Story behind Spiritual ‘Swing Chariot’ Emerges.” USA Today, Gannett   Satellite Information Network, Dec. 2018, usatoday30.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20060815/d_sweetchariot.art.htm. 

Gardner, Jamie. “‘I Hate Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ Says Former Hooker Brian Moore.” The Scotsman, 19 June 2020, www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby-union/i-hate-swing-low-sweet-chariot-says-former-hooker-brian-moore-2890266. 

https://www.watersedgemuseum.org/childrens-tour-swing-low-sweet-chariot

By Tessa Saric

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

When deciding what poem to adopt for this blog post assignment, I quickly gravitated toward the one with the word “mother” in the title. Literature and critical thought surrounding the concept of motherhood will always capture my attention, being a young feminist woman myself who often contemplates my own womanhood in relation to my ability, and perhaps, as viewed by some, my obligation to rear children and perform household duties.

Cover of a 1901 edition of The Yellow Wallpaper

Given that the poem itself is decently straightforward, I believed some biographical research was in order to be able to completely understand Gilman’s sentiment in writing this poem. Charlotte Anna Perkins Gilman was a novelist, writer, and notable feminist and social reformer active in the late 19th century, most famously known for having written the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” about a woman’s confinement in a room due to her depression following the birth of her and her husband’s baby. Gilman’s personal struggles relating to her motherhood in conjunction with the societal standards for the structure of the home in this period in history intrigued me, particularly her ideas surrounding social reform of the home and women’s roles in that. She principally believed that housework should be shared equally by women and men, and proposed a total cultural and structural reframing of the home that absolved women of the sole responsibility to uphold it, and absolved men of the lack of responsibility to it. Gilman herself had a daughter, but I found it most relevant that her own mother died the year her poetry collection In This Our World, in which this poem appears, was published.

The first stanza paints a picture of a dying woman calling her daughter to listen to her instructions in her final moments. A mother’s presence in the home as an impact in her child’s life is something that I’ve always understood to be important despite my disbelief that housework is an intrinsic aspect of motherhood. The scene set up here in this opening stanza is one that I believe Gilman is critiquing as a vital one at this point in history. “With hot and glittering eye” indicates tears in the mother’s eyes as she states that she knows death is upon her in this moment (Gilman 1). And yet, her first instinct as she calls upon her young daughter who is “gasping” at this sight, is to “pour these instructions” unto her (8). I think Gilman’s intention here in setting the scene this way, and having the mother prepare herself and her daughter for what she is about instruct her to do, is to comment on the believed expectation and importance of this time for women to pass down the knowledge and skill of household duties to their daughters. As touched on in the last stanza, this mother knows what her daughter’s fate in life will be, and acts in a way that signifies not only her own participation in this patriarchal practice, but her desperate and calculated inoculation of her daughter into it in her last moments. I’m not sure I can adequately relate my experience with my own mother and the ideas of motherhood and wifehood that she has instilled upon me up until this point in my life due to the over-a-century’s difference in the societal expectations (as well as limitations) placed upon women during Gilman’s life and mine. But what I can say confidently is my thankfulness that that is the case. Although I loosely believe that in the case that a woman does assume motherhood, it is necessary for her to perform motherly duties to her child(ren) as to benefit them socially and developmentally, I do believe similarly to Gilman that it is unfair to impress wifehood and the role of the sole homemaker upon a woman solely because she is a mother.

The middle stanza functions as the message Gilman is getting across — the “mother’s charge” being a list of household skills and duties in which it is her job to perform and pass down to her daughter(s) as a result of her womanhood. I think that this portion of the poem functions as the connection Gilman is both making and critiquing between womanhood, motherhood, wifehood, and homemaker. The female identity between both characters in this poem is the crucial aspect of it, in that, again, the performance of these skills was something that was expected of women and women only at this time, and Gilman stood in direct opposition to throughout her career. My personal experience with this poem as a woman living in the western world in the 21st century who is not necessarily expected by larger society to become a wife, mother, and homemaker at as great of a degree as I would have been had I been one of the 19th century, is one of empathy for women like Gilman who suffered from postpartum depression in a time where women were deemed “hysterical” in their mental health struggles that result from their oppression. I believe women still face this label today, in the sense that action of outward expression or even just the discussion of emotions is attributed to our sex and deemed a weakness. I and many women today struggle with not being taken seriously when it comes to healthcare and our wellbeing.

Portrait of Charlotte Perkins Gilman with her daughter Katharine Beecher Stetson, 1893

The last stanza states the inevitable fate of the mother, daughter, and really any future females born to this line – mother. This part of the poem really hit me emotionally, and it makes me think about generations of women not too long before me that were faced with the charge of motherhood under patriarchal society. The idea that wifehood and motherhood was the societal expectation of women, the box that they were squeezed into, standard they were expected to meet in order to survive in most cases.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, women’s literature is some of my favorite to read and analyze, especially when it is in the context of the meaning of “womanhood” and the implications of that existence throughout history. This poem in particular in its unfolding of events raises questions to me regarding mother/daughter relations at this time and whether they were emotionally fulfilling due to the ever-present job of wife and mother, of whom it is their unique responsibility to pass down from generation to generation. When I read this poem, I think of not only the character of the mother on her deathbed, desperately getting this information across in order for her daughter to successfully fill her shoes in the role she was always destined to assume, but I think of the daughter too, who instead of receiving loving words from her mother as she is in dying in pain before her, she receives a list of household duties she is to perform for the rest of her life.

Gilman, Charlotte Anna Perkins. The Mother’s Charge. Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52091/the-mothers-charge

“Charlotte Perkins Gilman.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 April 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Perkins_Gilman#

By: Shannon Walsh

For my second blog post, I decided to explore the poem “Alone” by Celia Thaxter. I titled this blog post “Contradictions in Nature,” because I found Thaxter’s poems to emphasize that idea. Her poem is entitled, “Alone,” and most definitely explores themes of loneliness and solitude, however, she does it in such a way that diminishes the negative connotation that sometimes follows the word ‘alone.’ She does not just compare aloneness to loneliness, but also explores themes of longing, solitude, and isolation. 

After reading the poem a few times, I have understood that Thaxter praises nature as she describes certain scenes when writing: “evening’s dusk and dew,” “lilies clustered fair and tall,” and “rich roses blushing red.” These small descriptions of nature immediately set the scene of the poem, something that seems like a garden. Additionally, I understood the “she” of the poem to be the woman who is tending to the flowers in the garden. The speaker observes her actions and expresses a longing to be closer to her, or perhaps her object of attention. This longing suggests that the unnamed woman holds significance to the speaker in some way, although never explicitly mentioned. The speaker observes the woman with an endearing tone, one that gives the poem a kind of poignant feel. Thaxter’s portrayal of solitude offers a perspective of profound appreciation for being alone. Overall, the poem has an introspective tone, where the speaker seems to be someone on the outside looking in, then consequently reflecting inwards of themselves. 

I chose this poem out of the list because its simplicity spoke to me. The short lines with beautiful descriptions captivated me upon first glance. I sometimes find it challenging to interact with short poems because I find that there is not much substance to pull from (which of course is not entirely true), or that I am interpreting the meaning of the poem entirely wrong. However, I was not met with those challenges when analyzing this poem. Thaxter’s language and tone made the poem flow so easily, which helped to illustrate its themes. 

The poem follows an AABB, or ​​coupled, rhyme scheme. As I find with many poems, the tactic of rhyming helps the poem to read more like a song and flow very well. She did not utilize any words that I did not know the prior meaning of, which also allowed me to read through the poem fluidly. There are four stanzas, each with four lines that end with a period at the end. The one exclamation mark in line three of stanza four drew my attention more directly to the line, “That rose she touched so tenderly!” I often notice punctuation marks in poetry because I find that they are intentional and make the readers notice something different about the line they are paired with. 

The poem holds strong cultural meaning in several ways. For example, “Alone” reflects on themes of romanticism and nature, both common to 19th century poetry.  The deep appreciation for nature’s beauty, along with themes of love and longing all speak to common themes of the Romantic period. A main idea that reveals itself in the last two lines of the poem is desolation when Thaxter writes, “I stood alone, outside the gate, And knew that life was desolate.” The speaker’s individual experience is actually common to the overall human experience with feelings of loneliness and desolation despite the beauty of the things and people around us and in nature.

In terms of my own experience, I feel as though I have experienced moments similar to those the speaker is addressing. Thaxter is writing about a specific scene in a garden, but her message seems to be more broad. I have experienced moments of solitude in nature, specifically ones where I observe the other people around me and feel a strange longing to be recognized or understood by them, or strangers in general. 

Along with the ways in which “Alone” is deemed culturally significant, are its factors that make it typical of nineteenth century poetry. These factors include the form, tone, and themes that I have mentioned above. However, Thaxter also employs factors that deviate from nineteenth century poetry as well. For example, the poem subverts typical gender roles in the sense that the speaker shows their vulnerability and emotional expression. Additionally, Thaxter’s poem offers a perspective on love and longing from a female viewpoint, which was less common in mainstream poetry throughout the nineteenth century. 

This poem (and my experience with it) was beautiful. The language of it feels timeless and universal for the human experience. I enjoyed the incorporation of nature and humans into one poem. The idea of the speaker being so curious and “longing” for someone, or something, was a really intriguing topic to read about through the form of poetry.

The image above depicts the poet Celia Thaxter