Hemans' Possible Disingenuousness

            On the surface, Felicia Hemans appears to be a poet who reinforces nationalist sentiment.  The tone of her poems is often rapturous of England and its inhabitants, in effect strengthening the status quo.  However, I believe that Hemans’ intentions are more nuanced than they first appear.  I believe that she is deliberately calibrating her enthusiasm, so as to exaggerate the merits of the society she lives in.  This could be meant to appease or placate her audience, but it is also possible that Hemans means to mock her country’s values through hyperbole.

            “The Homes of England” exalts the various residences of the country.  The language Hemans uses to describe the English countryside is hyperbolically favorable, for she notes how the homes are at once “stately,” (1) “merry,” (9) and “blessed” (17). However, the most telling sign of Hemans’ ulterior motive is her suggestion of equality between clearly unequal objects.  For example, Hemans venerates both “hut and hall” (34).  The fact that she considers both the homes of the poor and those of the rich to be equivalent is a sign of her exaggeration.  Hemans also describes the home as the place “Where first the child’s glad spirit loves / Its country and its God,” (39-40) suggesting that “God” and “country” also parallel each other. 

            By itself, “The Homes of England” may seem like a sincere poem.  However, when placed in conversation with poems like “Casabianca” it takes on a more sinister quality.  Specifically, the line that denotes the home as the place “Where first the child’s glad spirit loves / Its country and its God” (39-40) is shown to be a statement with negative ramifications in “Casabianca”.  “Casabianca” is about how blind faith in one’s elders and one’s country leads to a child’s death.  The child does not leave his post because his father, a commander, does not order him to.  The child burns to death precisely because of his allegiance.

            “England’s Dead” could be viewed at first as an ode to the many wartime casualties of England.  However, it can also be viewed as a criticism of England’s imperialism.  The dead soldiers of England rest “On Egypt’s burning plains” (9) and on the “Ganges’ banks” (19).  She writes of the ocean, “Even there sleep England’s dead” (48).   The funeral piles of the “rocks” (51) and the seas and shores are their “grave” (52).  Though Hemans’ poem can be viewed as a lament for England’s patriots, it can also be viewed as a criticism of the fact that many of the men did not die in their homeland. The reader is encouraged to find “Where rest not England’s dead” (56), suggesting that England’s imperialism will continue.