Comparing Women in A Man's Requirements and A Letter to Her Husband

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Subservient Women in A Man’s Requirements and A Letter to Her Husband Authors use poetry to creatively present attitudes and opinions. “A Man’s Requirements,” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment” are two poems with distinct attitudes about love that contain different literary approaches. In both of the poems, love is addressed from a different perspective, producing the difference in expectation and presentation, but both suggest the women are subservient in the relationships. In “A Man’s Requirements,” Elizabeth Barrett Browning uses repetition, flowery language, and strategic role play to expose her regard for man’s perception of love. The narrator repeatedly pleads the phrase “Love me,” followed by his conditions, which are painted with adored language such as “with thine azure eyes, Made for earnest grantings.” For the narrator, the purpose of the poem is to request love; more specifically, it’s a demand for love, but Browning equips the narrator with a begging tone and flattering language, lightening his demand...

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