Saturday, April 25, 2015

Poems by Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Lady Montagu


Background
  • Pope says women have no character
  • Swift shows inferior qualities of women to show the nastiness of women
  • Montagu defends women
Poems

Epistle to a Lady: Of the Characters of Women: Alexander Pope
  • All females are not the same
  • Chloe wants a heart
  • Established a relationship between male and female poets
  • There is a set way that women should act
  • character: unique; perspective
  • At this time, women were thought to be vain and lacking reason
  • Alexander Pope is the leading writer of his period 
  • Only one woman in this poem has character and is considered a "softer man," because at this time, men were only thought to have character
  • This poem was part of a series 
  • Pope believed philosophically that women have no character
The Lady's Dressing Room: Jonathan Swift
  • Very dirty
  • Talks about the roles of women 
  • Literally talks about ladies' dirty laundry 
  • 18th century beauty practices weren't very clean
  • Beneath makeup and wigs, there is a dirty woman at the end
  • London is analogous to women because it looks like a shiny city, but the streets were lined with the contents of chamber pots
A Letter from Artemesia in the Town to Chloe in the Country: 
  • Is a satirical poem
  • Men have more education so their writing is more important than the works of women
  • Calling someone a whore is as bad as calling someone a poetess 
The Reasons that Induced Dr S to write a Poem called The Lady's Dressing Room: Lady Montagu
  • Montagu sticks up for women 
  • Montagu tears Swift apart
  • Women are in a catch 22 because women are criticized for chasing beauty, but are also criticized if they don't chase beauty

No comments:

Post a Comment