Week One: Which includes Bradstreet, Cavendish, Fern, and King

This first week we focused on different poems written in different styles.  My favorite is Bradstreet's "The Author to her book".  Bradstreet expresses how authors view their works as children.  I have read many prefaces and notes to the reader about how characters in a story will grow and change and become something completely different then the author intended.  I also really liked the cover of Joanna Russ's book How to Suppress Women's Writing it is a good example of how people viewed women in the past.  It reminds me of an article I read last semester where a critic was degrading Harriet Beecher Stowe.  They also said that the books written by Francis Hodgson Burnett were crap.  I highly disagree with this critic and love both Stowe and Burnett.  If those same books had been written by men they would have been viewed differently.  The poem by Fern "Mrs. Adolphus Smith Sporting the 'Blue Stocking'" shows the struggles a women would have had.  With women being the primary care givers for their children and husband it would have been hard for them to have time to sit down and write.

Bradstreet, Cavendish and Fern

It is fascinating to see the different perceptions the women have of their work. It’s also interesting to see the obstacles that come into play and challenge each woman’s ability to publish her work. On the one hand, the challenges Bradstreet and Cavendish face are more of an internal dilemma. They struggle with an inner dialogue that tells them their work is not good enough even before they attempt to publish it. The limitations that society places on them that they should adhere to their roles as women and the limitations they place on themselves, causes them to belittle their work. 

Bradstreet goes so far as to call her work an “ill-informed offspring” of her “feeble brain,” (1) and she deems it “unfit for light” (9). Bradstreet has already judged her work a failure before it even goes to press. Cavendish also struggles with the idea of publishing her work and questions the validity and worth or her writings. Unlike Bradstreet, Cavendish expresses that she sees some promise in her work because she is not worrying about how others would perceive it. However, that optimism quickly fades and she begins to second-guess the value of her piece.

In the authors’ poems, it seems to be a female voice that tells them “Don’t do it, your work is not good enough.” This voice calls Bradstreet’s work a “rambling brat in print” (9) and asks Cavendish “Will you, said she thus waste your time in vain, on that which in the world small praise shall gain?” (9-10).

While an inner conflict keeps Bradstreet and Cavendish from publishing, it is more of an external conflict of having to balance the tasks that women are expected to perform in addition to writing that interrupts Fern and keeps her from pursuing her work. She comes across as empowered, confident in her ability and ready to write.  However, she can’t physically write because a male voice, her husband or the butcher, keeps calling on her to sew a pair of torn pantaloons or speak with the butcher.  

Mrs. Adolphus discussion

So I know that we haven't discussed Fanny Fern's "Mrs. Adolphus Smith Sporting the 'Blue Stocking'" yet, but I wanted to possibly get a discussion going on so I can see if I am reading the piece how it was intended to be read.  For me, I really enjoyed the piece.  I thought it was funny and had a sense or realism to it; it seemed as though Mr. and Mrs. Aldophus Smith were an everyday, run-of-the-mill couple.  The dynamic of their relationship seems to clearly be defined by gender roles in my opinion.

First and foremost, Mr. Adolphus Smith is portrayed as someone who looks toward his wife when he can't quickly figure out a problem, instead of spending time thinking up a solution.  For example, he could not find his Sunday pants, did not know what to do when their child swallowed a button, and could not remember what his wife wanted to order from the butcher.  The piece is extremely stereotypical, with the husband unable to problem solve, while at the same time expecting his wife to easily and quickly come up with a solution.  At the end, Mr. Aldophus Smith clearly has no clue how to do what would be considered *stereotypically* female work, as he had been holding his child upside down for quite some time to get the button out of his throat.

If I didn't find this piece so funny, I might actually be offended by it.  However, I think men do have a tendency to look toward their wife, girlfriend, mother, or other major female relation to solve problems for them.  I do believe that both Mr. and Mrs. Aldophus Smith are conforming to their gender roles, and expect the other to do so as well (even Mrs. Aldophus Smith taking her husband's name is following gender role norms).  I have no problem with clearly defined gender roles, as I think they would exist naturally anyway.  That being said, I really like this piece.  I think it is hilarious and I am looking forward to discussing it in class with everyone!

Anne Bradstreet: A Visionary for American Literature

            I have always been fascinated by Anne Bradstreet, particularly by the fact that she was America’s first published poet.  In class, we have briefly discussed how women’s writing was often times in the past suppressed and not seen as true art.  I find it ironic that such writing was diminished when in fact it was a woman who initially started what we now know as American literature.  Was the attention span of prior generations so small that they clearly forgot this fact for hundreds of years?

            What I find most intriguing about Bradstreet’s poetry is the genuine honesty and emotion that is present throughout her writing.  In “The Author to Her Book”, Bradstreet laments the fact that some of her work was published without her permission.  If one did not know the true circumstances, it would be quite easy to mistake the topic for that of a child rather than writing, which shows the reader how much she truly cared about her work.  The love that Bradstreet had for her poetry, as well as her protective nature of it, is both interesting and, as time would inevitably prove, warranted.  Due to the scrutiny that society would have regarding women’s writing, Bradstreet was right in regretting the publication of her work for all eyes to see and judge.  Thankfully, though, society has progressed, and we can now see Bradstreet’s poetry for what it is: timeless.

Ramblings

Maybe it's because I've read "The Author to Her Book" at least a few times and have already discussed the cleverness and necessity of Bradstreet's presenting her book in this manner. Or maybe it's because I wrote my annotated bibliography on Anne Bradstreet last year for 301 and thus have read multiple articles about her poetry. Whatever the reason, I admit that I was a bit bored with "The Author to Her Book" when I reread it for this class. The girlish language was quite obvious, with references to "offspring" (1), "mother" (8), and "homespun cloth" (18). I didn’t really have any new revelations about feminist writing. This is not to say that I think that “The Author to Her Book” is a poorly written poem – not at all! In terms of structure and wording, I found this poem much better written than either of Cavendish’s. Maybe it’s the creative writer in me and having had a class with Dr. Messenger that makes me tend to scrutinize the structure and wording of the poems rather than paying attention to the content.

Anyway, I did like the idea that Cavendish’s poems reflect, as the introduction to her poetry put it, “psychological reactions to the process of writing” (160). The description of the sheer joy of writing for oneself, the anxiety that follows when one realizes that others will read this precious writing, and the desire for somebody to say, “No, this is good!” were definitely relatable.

I think both Brittany and Angela commented that Bradstreet and Cavendish were “rarities” in their days: most authors were men. I was thinking about the fact that things are sort of opposite today, or at least there are equal numbers of men and women writers. Maybe I was thinking more of fanfiction.net, the website where I’ve posted stories and frequently read others’ “fics.” The majority of the authors on that website are female. Likewise, out of the seventeen people in my Intro to Creative Writing class last semester, only three were male. Now, I realize that
there are plenty of male English majors and authors. I just think it’s interesting that sometimes we – or at least I – think of writing as a more feminine pursuit. I’m not saying that this is true – my favorite author, Ted Dekker, is obviously male.

I’m also reminded of an article that we had to read last semester for English 377 – “Composing as a Woman” by Elizabeth Flynn. Among other topics, Flynn discussed the contrast in the typical subjects that men and women tend to write about: women write about relationships, while men write about accomplishments (427-32). Bradstreet’s and
Cavendish’s poems seem to be a combination of the two: the poets describe their mother-child relationships with their writing as well as the tentative accomplishments that their poems represent.

Bradstreet and Cavendish

I have read Anne Bradstreet's poem "The Author to Her Book" before and struggled with the message she was trying to convey. I think I found it difficult to relate to her passivity, as a writer, because times are so different now. Women have a lot more freedoms that, as a gender, they didn't have before and are now taken for granted. When I read it this time, about a year after the first time, I read it much differently. I found myself comparing the plight of women writers, like Bradstreet and Margaret Cavendish, to those of African American writer Phyllis Wheatley. In her poem "On Being brought from Africa to America" Wheatley takes a passive, and yet crafty, approach by placing herself in an inferior role but with the ability to be transformed by the influences of the Caucasian race who had claimed themselves to be superior and enlightened when compared to the African American race. Samson Occum, a Native American writer, did the same thing in "A Short Narrative of My Life when he stated that the reason for his troubles was because he was a poor Indian but that it wasn't his fault because God made him that way. This absolved him of responsibility for what he is and spark sympathy from the reader, which would have been mainly white men.

I believe that Bradstreet and Cavendish are another reflection of the era they lived in. Becoming a published, woman writer was not a respected profession for a gender condemned to find complete fulfillment as a wife and mother. A woman was to have no wants of her own or desires apart from her husbands. If Bradstreet or Cavendish had not displayed their writing through a humble, passive, and submissive lens they would have been shunned and most likely never published. Bradstreet describes her own poetry as inferior and flawed. She also implies a lack of control over the outcome of that symbolized inferiority. She portrays herself as a woman incapable of producing any better because she is a woman. Cavendish also takes a similar stance in "An Excuse for So Much Writ upon My Versus." She presents her work as juvenile, incomplete, and in need of guidance. She also appears to absolve herself of all responsibility for her poems outcome in the very first line, "Condemn me not for making such a coil." I don't believe for a second that either of these women actually considered themselves inferior writers; but, instead of screaming "Screw You!!" to the men who controlled their world they chose to play their hand in the most effective way and I applaud and respect them for knowing how to work the system!

Bradstreet and Cavandish Discussion

Okay, so since I haven't seen any posts up yet I figured I would go ahead and be the first. I have never done one of these blog posts before, either for a class or in my spare time, so please bear with me. I have read Anne Bradstreet's poem, "The Author to her book" in two of Dr. H's previous classes so I feel that i have a pretty good handle on that particular poem. I know we haven't went over it in class as of the time I am writing this post, but I am going to go ahead and make a few comments of mine on it. I feel that Bradstreet is playing the expected role of a woman in her time period. Women in 1678 did not publish their poems. Bradstreet's friends thought her poems were very good and had them published, even though Bradstreet herself did not want them published. Bradstreet says that her poems were "irksome" to her sight, but she tried to dress them up and send them out the door. She is saying to the audience, "I know these poems are not very good because I wrote them." that is the feeling I am getting anyway. I also like how she attributes her poem as a child. That domestic role of child-rearing would fit in with a woman of Bradstreet's time. The unusual part about this is the fact that Bradstreet does not seem to like this "child" at all. This could just be due to the fact that she did not want her poems published or it could mean something deeper. As for Cavandish, I do not believe she has the same poetical chops as Bradstreet. I just could not get over that she asks for pity and for people to tell her that her poem is good. That just made me dislike her.