Comparison between Woman Work and Overheard in County Sligo
Woman Work and overheard in County Sligo are both poems which give us
an image of the role of woman in the past, and how she contributed to
society Through reading both these poems, it is apparent that both of
the poets’ backgrounds have influenced the poems. In the past, women
were not considered important in society, and their efforts were not
valued, not even by woman herself. Women were expected to stay at
home, and become housewives. Woman lived in a society in which there
was pressure to get married, wither by family pressure or societal
pressure. It was not necessary for woman to conform to the beliefs and
wishes of society, but many women felt compelled to follow the typical
image expected of woman.
Maya Angelou and Gillian Clarke are two female poets who felt it was
important to write about the situation that some woman had to live in.
Maya Angelou is a black female who felt compelled to write about how
woman were treated in the years before her. She felt her ancestors
were suppressed, not only because of their African race but because
they were woman. Her poem, Woman Work, is about a woman’s struggle
everyday to keep up with life, and do the housework.
The woman in Woman work is unhappy with her life. She has many jobs to
do, and does not show any positive emotion towards them. She is
constantly working, and this is her main priority in life.
We know that she has children. She says ‘I’ve got the tots to dress’’.
There is no mention of the children’s fat her in the poem, which may
indicate that he gives her no help in the housework.
The woman is very tired and flustered. She says ‘Let me rest tonight’,
which implies that it i...
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...pped by their lives.
I think that even though the woman in ‘Overheard in County Sligo’ is
richer, and may be more well-off than the woman in ‘Woman Work’, they
are both unfortunate and have the same amount of pressure on them. I
like both poems, but I prefer ‘Woman Work’ as I like the use of
language and imagery in the last four verses. I like the lines ‘Fall
softly dewdrops and cover me with white’ I think using nature at the
end of the poem makes the poem better, as it emphasises all the lack
of materialistic things she owns, and nature is all she has. I think
the use of vocabulary is very good, and Maya Angelou has made the
majority of the last four verses very peaceful.
On the other hand, I like that ‘Overheard in County Sligo starts off
with an overview of a woman, who, on the surface, has the perfect
life, while she is secretly living in misery.
To begin with, there are many events in United States history that have shaped our general understanding of women’s involvement in economics, politics, the debates of gender and sexuality, and so forth. Women for many centuries have not been seen as a significant part of history, however under thorough analyzation of certain events, there are many women and woman-based events responsible for the progressiveness we experience in our daily lives as men, women, children, and individuals altogether. Many of these events aid people today to reflect on the treatment of current individuals today and to raise awareness to significant issues that were not resolved or acknowledged in the past.
With the gradual advancements of society in the 1800’s came new conflicts to face. England, the leading country of technology at the time, seemed to be in good economic standing as it profited from such products the industrial revolution brought. This meant the need for workers increased which produced jobs but often resulted in the mistreatment of its laborers. Unfortunately the victims targeted were kids that were deprived of a happy childhood. A testimony by a sub-commissioner of mines in 1842 titled Women Miners in the English Coal Pits and The Sadler Report (1832), an interview of various kids, shows the deplorable conditions these kids were forced to face.
Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Autumn, 1980), pp. 17-20. JSTOR. 2
To understand the significant changes within the role of women, it’s important to look at the position women held in society prior to World War II. In a famously quoted ruling by the United States Supreme Court in a case denying a woman’s right to practice law, the following excerpt penned by the Honorable Joseph P. Bradley in 1873 sums up how women were perceived during that period of time by their male counterparts. Bradley declared, "The paramount destiny and mission of women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother -- this is the law of the Creator" . While many women may agree that the role of wife and mother is a noble one, most would certainly not agree this position would define their destiny.
Thesis Statement: Men and women were in different social classes, women were expected to be in charge of running the household, the hardships of motherhood. The roles that men and women were expected to live up to would be called oppressive and offensive by today’s standards, but it was a very different world than the one we have become accustomed to in our time. Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
From the beginning women were given a role in life they were supposed to live by. Women are the child bearer and most toke on the role of the healers of society. It seemed to be the primarily role of women to tend to the physical, mental and spiritual needs of other people. In the early European society, women were the religious leaders, guiding people through the different stages of their lives. As the warrior classes began to form, the role of women beg...
Prior to the 15th century, rural European women were highly revered and respected pillars of rural community life. Women were not only considered as mothers and wives, but also as community leaders, physicians, and sources of strength and wisdom. They worked side by side with men toward the common goal of community growth and improvement. Though they were not seen as identical to men in the roles they played, they were considered men's equals. The roles of women were different but equally important and respected as those of men.
Barbara White, author of Women’s Career Development, gives an opportunity for successful women to give advice to other women wanting to pursue a career in the workforce. First, they explained that women need to be single-minded today. They must make their own choices and know what they want. If a woman hopes to achieve her goal of an ‘American Dream’ and live up to it, then she should be persistent and keep working at achieving her objectives. The best advice given in White’s book is that a woman should not underestimate herself (227-229). A woman today can be whatever she pleases. It takes work, dedication and persistence to achieve goals in general, not just in the career aspect of life. As seen through Joan Crawford and Dawn Steel’s stories, a ‘business woman’ has a bright future now and for years to come. Women’s roles have drastically changed throughout the past century along with the actual number of women now working. It is phenomenal to see such an increase in women’s participation, and hopefully this course will continue even higher into the twenty-first century.
This source provided the unique perspective of what was thought to be the perfect household, with a man who worked and a wife who cooked and cleaned. However, it also showed how a woman could also do what a man can do, and in some cases they could do it even better. This work is appropriate to use in this essay because it shows how men talked down to their wives as if they were children. This work shows the gradual progression of woman equality and how a woman is able to make her own decisions without her husband’s input.
History accounts for the great contributions of women in promoting social justice, particularly in uplifting the morale and functions of women in the society. From being the oppressed gender, various women managed to change the traditional roles of women by fighting for their rights to be heard and for them to given equal opportunities. These women boldly stood against gender stereotypes of women and proved the entire world that they could defy conventions. Particularly at the turn of the 20th century, women battled against the oppressions brought by patriarchy in different ways. These activist women had crusaded for the promotion of their civil rights, sexual freedom, and pursued careers which were once forbidden to them.
Images of women throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have both shaped women’s outlook on their lives in the workplace, at home, and in politics, and have also encouraged change for them as individuals. While often times women are seen as weak individuals that have minor influence on society, artistic evaluations and various writings throughout history have successfully proved otherwise.
Women were perceived as either being a housewife, a nurturer, or a person for company. They did not have the right to vote till later on, work, and if they had an opinion that a male do not agree with, women are considered “wicked”; not savvy, not prudent but wicked to the core. It is unfair, unethical, atrocious, but through it all there was one female who dared to challenge the mind of men and the notion that women can be more than what men perceive them as being. Her name is Margaret Fuller. The goals of Margaret Fuller were precise. Men should realize that women are not an epitome of a statue but human beings, just as men, women can achieve full adulthood and citizenship, but most vitally Margaret aimed to change the assumptions about
French, Katherine L., and Allyson M. Poska. Women and Gender in the Western past. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Print.
Since the beginning of time, women have strived to achieve an equal status in society. The vast majority of women have rebelled against the norm for equal status. As if washing the dirt off one’s hands, women are forgotten for all of their achievements. The identity of women in the Western world has evolved from domesticity and servility, and moved toward their valuation as individuals of intellect, talent, and independence. The culture about women’s empowerment has been reflected in literature and history throughout many ages.
Women have always been essential to society. Fifty to seventy years ago, a woman was no more than a house wife, caregiver, and at their husbands beck and call. Women had no personal opinion, no voice, and no freedom. They were suppressed by the sociable beliefs of man. A woman’s respectable place was always behind the masculine frame of a man. In the past a woman’s inferiority was not voluntary but instilled by elder women, and/or force. Many, would like to know why? Why was a woman such a threat to a man? Was it just about man’s ability to control, and overpower a woman, or was there a serious threat? Well, everyone has there own opinion about the cause of the past oppression of woman, it is currently still a popular argument today.