The Role Of Women In Dorothy Livesay

Woman as Poet and Woman as Nature: An Exploration of Culture Conflict in Livesay’s Work

Dorothy Livesay’s work expresses her identity as both woman and poet. In integrating female experience into her work, Livesay challenges patriarchal views of “the poet” as an archetype and the connection between male and female and nature and culture. Livesay states “I have always been fascinated by the role of woman as writer” (Livesay 2), in examining Livesay’s poetry from 1926-1944 the role of “woman as writer” speaks on women’s issues through connecting the identity of woman to nature and the patriarchy to culture. Livesay’s work holds radical feminist thought, through examination of her nature imagery and the conflicts presented between nature and

Although Livesay identifies with nature, she still holds a place in culture as a citizen and a writer and through "identifying herself with both nature and poetry she creates for herself a unique female poetic role: that of mediator between culture and nature" (Relke 219). Livesay challenges the patriarchal views of "the poet", the treatment of women in society and the connection between culture and nature. Taking on the role of "poet mediator" between culture and nature, Livesay is able to speak on behalf of women in addressing women's issues and anxieties stemmed from patriarchal values and on behalf of nature to highlight the cruelty that culture has inflicted upon the earth. Through applying a lens of radical feminism to Dorothy Livesay’s poetry conflict between nature (woman) and culture (patriarchy) can be seen in her

We see force attempting to hold the speaker down, looking at this poem from a radical feminist view we see ecofeminist ideas present as “men have used force to maintain their superiority over women and the natural world” (Cirksena and Cuklanz 28). Within this poem the force men have used to “maintain their superiority” is through attempting to silence female voices in spaces that hold paternalistic values. The female identity is connected to nature through the image of the bird. The bird is an image that was also seen in “A Dream”, in “A Dream” the birds seem to represent domineering male voices that claim the space and mock her through their laughter; in “Defiance” the image of the bird represents the poetic thought of the female speaker. The bird, even when threatened to be “covered” or have her “wings beaten” will “shall go on laughing” (Livesay, “Defiance” 5), this shows the speaker's resistance to rejection from male dominated culture. In comparing “A Dream” and “Defiance” it can be seen that Livesay’s writing has changed from submissive to the dominating space to speaking out against the patriarchal structure that attempts to hold her back. Poem “A Dream” is a part of Livesay’s Garden of Childhood poetry that was “previously uncollected and unpublished” (Livesay 1), where “Defiance” is contained in Livesay’s first published collection of poetry entitled From Green Pitcher. In looking at these poems