Irony in The Rights of Woman

Barbauld's The Rights of Woman is a response to Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. For the majority of the poem it seems like she's completely agreeing with Wollstonecraft's train of thought that women should stand up for equal treatment and deserve the same opportunities. This would make sense because she grew up in a place where she was given a good education. It also seems like Barbauld got really lucky because her father taught at a school for boys, and she probably shouldn't have gotten such a good education, but because her father worked there, she was allowed a lot of the same opportunities. This story is very similar to that of Huda Shaarawi, leader of the Egyptian feminist movement in the early twentieth century. A really outspoken woman, who was very close to her brother, and upon seeing the unequal treatment, demanded that she receive the same opportunities, particularly in education. Coming to the end of Barbauld's poem, I realized that she had stopped agreeing with Wollstonecraft. Barbauld essentially tells women to forget what she said at the beginning and stop being so aggressive because "Subduing and subdued, thou soon shalt find/Thy coldness soften, and thy pride give way" (27-8). Here, she describes the reaction a woman will have to finding a good relationship with a man. She goes on to talk about how "separate rights are lost in mutual love" (32). Barbauld is telling her female audience that a good relationship leads to apathy regarding equal rights and opportunities for women because a good relationship makes all of that not matter. At the beginning of this poem, I was wondering why this poem hadn't received any serious backlash, but upon reaching the end, I realized why. I just assumed that because she had been so fortunate with the education she received, she would want to try and send the message that education and equal treatment is important, but instead she falls right into the patriarchy of the time and tells women that they don't really need to stand up for their rights, instead, she says a happy marriage is the true source of happiness.

The Mouses's Petition

              What struck me most about the assigned readings is that Anna Barbauld's writing style and

 method is very unique compared to the other poets we have studied. For me, her poetry is very 

accessible and much more straightforward than the works of Coleridge or Wordsworth, for example.

 In "the Mouse's Petition" Barbauld creates a speaker who is a mouse in Dr. Preistly's lab. The mouse 

writes a "petition" in which he begs for his freedom. By creating this speaker, Barbauld gives the 

mouse a consciousness. This highlights the terrible aspects of testing on animals because the reader is

forced to think of the mouse as an equal rather than a lesser species. At the end, the poem takes an 

interesting twist. It seems like the mouse is almost threatening the doctor by suggesting he free him 

so he will also be saved in his time of need.

            Like many poems, there has been much debate over the analysis of the content within the

poem. I plan to discuss this in class but it is interesting to question the poem's purpose and how the 

content can be interpreted based on the purpose you feel the poem has.

Here is some Barbauld fan art(is that what I should call it?) I found, enjoy!




P.S. Happy Earth Day! 

The mouse stands for a lot

I think Barbauld's "The Mouse's Petition" has been my favorite poem to read this semester. To start, the image of a protesting mouse is an image that I think would make anyone smile. This is the type of poem that is taught to young children, because the imagery in the poem is that of a small mouse in confinement (as far as prisoner imagery goes this is pretty tame). However, the poem's brilliance stems from this very innocent sounding poem, because its innocence serves as a top layer that shields the much deeper arguments in the poem.
The first part of the analysis that for me existed in the top layer of the poem, is the poem stating that animals have a consciousness, and thus should have rights. It would be horrifying to imagine keeping a talking mouse in a cage, because then that mouse would be able to describe the tortured life it was experiencing. The poem seems to imply that just because animals cannot speak up for themselves, they are capable of experiencing the same emotions (specifically emotional distress) and that is showed in the line "men, like mice may share" (46).
Underneath the animal activist voice in the poem is a more subtle, but for my reading, more relevant commentary on gender difference. Barbauld herself obviously would've faced sexism, and much of the poem seems to speak to that experience. For one, the metaphor of a mouse trapped in a cage is a very profound comparison to the way women are trapped within the patriarchy. There is the constant comparison between this mouse who tries to petition, but who would listen to a mouse? Barbauld seems to be insinuating women protesting had a voice as loud as a mouse's. There is also the reference to the "tyrant's chain" (10), which oppresses the "free-born mouse" (12). I took this line to be discussing a few elements of sexist oppression. The first is the experience of a woman growing up free and then seemingly becoming enslaved in marriage. The "tyrant" here seems to serve both as the husband, but also as society, which as a woman gets older, applies more and more pressure as an oppressive agent. The end of the poem that wishes for "some kind angel" (47) to come down and "clear thy path" (47), seems to be a statement about striving for gender equality. This seems to be further confirmed in the last line of the poem "and break the hidden snare" (48). The "hidden snare" could be the mouse expressing that it does not understand the cage because it is a human made trap. However, even that interpretation does not fully explain the word "hidden." I think Barbauld chose this word to directly challenge the restrictions that women face, because the "snare" women face is not a clearly built cage, but the unspoken pressures of the patriarchy act like the walls of a cage.

Don Juan, the innocent

In the intro to Don Juan in the anthology points out "that this archetypal lady-killer of European legend is in fact more acted upon than active." (672).

This is exemplified in Don Juan's affair with Donna Julia. The narrator first explores the life of Donna Julia and her circumstances. She is married to "a man / Of fifty, and such husbands are in plenty; / And yet, I think, instead of such a ONE / 'Twere better to have tow of five-and-twenty" (439 - 492). This alludes to Julia's unhappiness in being married to an older man while she was described as "charming, chaste, and twenty-three" (472).

He was only a sixteen year old, while she was twenty three, when their relationship changed from one of Julia seeing Juan as a "pretty child" to one of flirtation. It is described that though they became attracted to each other and more shy than before, it was only Donna Julia who understood why "But as for Juan, he had no more notion / Than he who never saw the sea of ocean." (559- 560). The narrator is showing that Donna Julia is older, and more knowledgable in matters of love and sex than Don Juan is. In fact, Don Juan is completely ignorant, though he is typically a character who can woo any woman.

It is then Julia who "resolved to make / The noblest efforts for herself and mate" to remain virtuous and true to her husband. All the while, Don Juan is still ignorant that this is even necessary.

All this focus on Julia being the one with the "cunscious heart", and not Don Juan, depicts the irony of Byron's version of the European flirt. This is a character who is supposed to make any woman swoon because of his looks, charm, and love tactics. Yet in Byron's poem, Don Juan is just a boy who a married woman happens to be attracted to. It almost seems accidental. Byron takes the idea of the "lover-boy" and makes a mockery of him in this way.

Don Juan As Pleasurable Take-Down

I'm particularly interested in long poems written over the course of a life and left unfinished -- The Prelude, Ezra Pound's Cantos, and, of course, Byron's Don Juan. What amazes me, though, is how often these poems have introductions that are firmly set, or, in Wordsworth's case, are added on to but remain "beginnings." The endings are what are more malleable, perhaps. The prefaces and opening modes get set and then wheresoever the poem goes and grows changes; however, the opening bars resound fixedly.

Don Juan begins, technically, twice, and I'm mostly fascinated by its Dedication: an opening take-down of Robert Southey, but also of the Lake Poets in general. After so much praiseworthiness dedicated to these fellows, it's nice and comic for a poet to be a bit more forward in addressing his "rivals." Byron's comedy reminds me that to write a "serious" long work, one does not need to be so serious -- as a line from A.R. Ammons goes, "wouldn't it be silly to be serious now." An inversion of this line more suited for Don Juan: "wouldn't it be serious to be silly now." Don Juan is then almost like that other great Don of literature -- Don Quixote: the epic comedy vs. the epic tragedy. Don Juan sets the stakes high from the start as competing with "high" literary achievements but, although Byron is one of the highest of these poets in social class, he claims as his influences in Stanza VIII the "pedestrian" muses. Then his project and Wordsworth's (and, by causation through Lyrical Ballads, Coleridge's) are not so different: men speaking to other men through verse. But, again, Byron is more interested in tickling his fellow men than speaking to them, maybe (in both a humorous and sexual context).

To speak more directly to Wordsworth, this is my favorite stanza of the Dedication:

And Wordsworth, in a rather long "Excursion"

       (I think the quarto holds five hundred pages),

Has given a sample from the vasty version

       Of his new system to perplex the sages;

'Tis poetry—at least by his assertion,

       And may appear so when the dog-star rages—

And he who understands it would be able

To add a story to the Tower of Babel.

Byron, for all his so-called "crimes against morals" and possibly "humanity," ultimately wants a human race unified in Falstaffian laughter and joy (pleasure, too, in sexuality). He does not want to create a perplex system for the sages. He wants to bring back the true ballad -- not the ballad of loftiness offered by Wordsworth -- but the ballad of the road, of Chaucer, of inns and immoralities, couched in memorable verses. The Byronic hero, as we discussed last class, is dark and broody -- he is finally, though, ironic in his Byron-y.

Femininty in "Don Juan"

In our last class we discussed in detail Byron's portrayal of his own wife and mother through Donna Inez and his general sexist outlook throughout the poem. Though I still believe the poem leaves a lot to be desired in terms of sexual equality and responsibility, Julia's letter "transcribed" in stanzas 192-97 adds layers to this general portrayal. In it, Julia hints that love is all woman are good for, with men on the other hand having the ability to pursue multitudinous opportunities through which to excel. And I have trouble deciding whether this is tongue-in-cheek or Byron's legitimate outlook.

It seems the strongest analysis provided by the text is a sexist one. Julia commits herself fully, and harmfully, to the traditional feminine role. Not only does she herself as the victim of their affair, "I have no further claim on your young heart,/ Mine is the victim, and would be again" (1531-32) but places herself permanently in that role in regards to Don Juan. But on top of being the constant submissive, she also blames herself for the affair "if I name my guilt, 'tis not a boast,/ None can deem harshlier of me than I deem," (1541-42), and thus paints herself as irredeemable in the eyes of society.

In addition to the final and destructive placement in the feminine role, as stated above, she states that the feminine and masculine rules of love are completely irreconcilable, "Man's love is of his life a thing apart,/ 'Tis woman's whole existence," (1545-6). Men can do things outside of love and women cannot, a very simplistic definition. Yet, this makes some sort of sense given Byron's history, the earlier portrayal of Donna Inez, and this section's basis that Julia is to blame for the affair. Women in Byron's pieces (at least in those we have read and excepting ethereal examples like Witch of the Alps) appear incredibly static and then become blamed and joked about due to this stagnation. He ultimately sets his feminine characters up for failure by allowing them no space to flourish.

So maybe the tongue-in-cheek reading was a bit hopeful.

The Meta-Narrator of "Don Juan"

            The poem “Don Juan” is notable for the characterization of its narrator.  The fact that “Don Juan” has such an active narrator is fitting because Byron had a conception of himself as a showman.  The telling of the narrative itself was created by the narrator’s own desire, for the narrator states, “I want a hero” (1).  Moreover, the narrator consistently interjects into the story itself.  “Don Juan” is therefore typical of Byron’s canon, because it is more a piece of performance than a sincere narrative.

            The narrator specifies how the poem is an art object, allowing the reader to understand his process in the creation of the narrative.  The narrator explains how he does not prefer to start his tale in medias res, instead expressing that, “My way is to begin with the beginning” (50).    The narrator states, “My poem’s epic, and is meant to be / Divided in twelve books” (1593-1594).  He feels the need to explain his preferences in writing, stating, “I’m fond of rhyme” (1605).  The narrator also ends the first Canto by saying “good-b’ye” (1764) to the reader.

            The poem functions as a meta-narrative, because it not only references the fact that it is a story, but also attempts to directly argue for its place in the canon.  The narrator puts himself in the context of other literary and historical figures, from Virgil to Milton to Coleridge.  Specifically, in the dedication Byron disparages his contemporaries in order to bolster his own work.  The narrator’s praise for himself is a running theme throughout the work.  He announces at the end of the poem, “I shall not try / Your patience further than by this short sample / ‘Twere well if others follow’d my example” (1766-1768).  This is one way in which Byron’s poem is a performance, for he is acting out a conflict with other poets in order to create interest for the reader.  Moreover, the implicit criticism of poets that is carried throughout the poem “Don Juan” is an example of a meta-narrative.  Finally, the narrator states “this story’s actually true” (1616), a blatant lie to the reader.  This represents part of Byron’s willingness to scandalize and acknowledge his performance, for the reader knows he or she is being manipulated but will accept it nonetheless.

            Byron’s narrator also functions as a performed version of Byron himself.  This is one way in which Byron imbues “Don Juan” with drama.  For example, the narrator asks, “What is the end of Fame?” (1737) and states with melancholy that “Ambition was my idol, which was broken” (1729).  This is clearly a question that many at the time assumed Byron was asking himself, given that he was one of the most popular poets of the time.  Byron continues to play on the audience’s perception of himself.  The narrator relates to the reader, “now all thirty years my hair is grey” (1697), which furthers the perception of Byron-as-narrator because Byron himself did not live past 36.  Overall, the poem “Don Juan” attempts to add to Byron’s mystique, conjuring a vision of a tortured artist.  This may be merely a guise that Byron adopts, but regardless it is a stylistic choice that is meant to advance the celebrity of Byron.

            Byron creates a narrator who almost overshadows his subject.  This is evidence of Byron’s focus on style over substance, for he considers the story to be less important than the way in which it is presented.  Of all the poets we have read, Byron is the most eager to entertain.  He is so eager that he drags his own persona into poems to create more drama than the story itself produces.