Blog one: Shackling of Women Rights Naturally in the late-1800s to mid-1900s women were living in “a mans world.” There are many poems that have shown the life women had to live in order to hide from the world. Sexuality is a huge matter women had to hide from the outer world; it was unheard of for women to even talk about sex. In Mina Loy’s poem, “Virgins plus Curtains minus dots”, Mina goes into detail about how “unwed” women are to live their lives. This poem was written around the time feminism was first starting to make waves in the world. This could have possibly been the push that leads Mina to write this poem. While reading the poem I can sense her harsh tone within the lines such as “See the men pass/ Their hats are not ours” ( lines 7 and 8) as well as, “ And they may look everywhere/ Men’s eyes look into things/ Our eyes look out” (lines 11, 12, and 13). These lines set me to believe that she is trying to portray women as having lesser rights than men as if the men are to go out and explore and the women are to stay inside and lookout. Reading this poem reminded me of “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Gilman in 1892. Both of these writings were written in the same time period when feminism was making its way into the world. The Yellow Wallpaper is a story of a woman going through depression and her husband thought it was acceptable to keep her secluded from the outside world in a room with yellow wallpaper, where she eventually suffered a mental break. Both of these stories show how the quality of women's lives was based on the decisions the men in their life made for them.
4 Comments
9/14/2019 05:03:06 pm
I am a big fan of allusions to other literature. I have not read the Yellow Wallpaper, but the fact that you added another poem to a great poem like this makes me kind of geek out. I will definitely be using that idea in my next post (if you don't mind, of course.)
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I read the Yellow Wallpaper when I was in high school, for a Women's Studies class, so I really enjoyed that connection you made with this poem. I also liked the fact that you went deeper into the idea that this poem was about women's rights. On a really surface level the poem could've just been about women wanting control of their sexuality, and not just being defined by their sexuality. Yes, that's apart of women's right, but I liked how you tied the idea that women wanted sexual freedom into the inequality of society at that time.
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Cassidy Mustard
9/15/2019 12:12:15 pm
This was really well written! I really enjoyed how you gave the readers a bit of background and history before you discussed the poems I also liked how you referenced The Yellow Wallpaper and connected it to the poem Virgins Plus Curtains Minus Dots.
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9/15/2019 05:09:15 pm
I like what you had to say about Mina having a harsh tone about the poem. I hadn't thought of that while reading it, but now I can see it. Great insight. Amazing connection with the first wave of feminism maybe being the reason Mina Loy wrote her poem. This was an interesting read, I enjoyed it!
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