Felicia Hermans

Felicia Hemans is very different from Dorothy Wordsworth, the other female author that we have read. As opposed to Dorothy, she wanted to gain fame and recognition from her poems. She learned to be an independent woman throughout her life due to her father and her husband leaving her. I think that all of these periods in her life made her bitter against the male gender and inspired her to write about the greatness of a woman and what she does for the country. She took the traditional gender roles and how women were seen and turned them into very recognizable and great traits.

I think that her poem, "The Wife of Asdrubal" reflects her theory that women have the opportunity to be powerful and heroic. Asdrubal surrendered his city to the Romans in order to save his own life and his wife was very ashamed of his actions. His wife shows her loyalty towards her city and refuses to go under any other rule. She decides to stay back in the burning city, kill her children, and then kill herself. This ending is open to interpretation; however, I believe that she was taking the heroic route as opposed to the barbaric route. When it says "the arms that cannot save/ Have been their cradle, and shall be the grave" I think she is trying to show the cowardly nature of the man and that consequences of the cowardly actions. It was Asdrubal's fault that the city in flames, and I think that his wife did not want to take the risk of her and her children to live a horrible life under the rule of a foreign country. This poem shows Hemans dislike for men and their actions. Asdrubal gave up his city, Hemans husband gave up her.

In Hemans poem, "The Homes of England", she greatly shows her attitude that women should be put up on a pedestal. This poem discusses the different classes of people that live throughout England including aristocrats, middle class, lower class, and then the poor. In all of these homes, the roles of the women tend to remain the same. They have a very domestic role, and are responsible for the tasks in the home and the raising of the children. Most people may believe that women are the inferior gender because of these roles; however, Hemans believes that these women should be applauded and awarded for the jobs that they do on a daily basis. It is the mother's duty to show the children love and how to love and without these qualities, these children will not be able to love their country or their God. She clearly states this in the last two lines of this poem by stating, "Where first the child's glad spirit loves/ Its country and its God!" These are two very powerful and very true lines. If these children do not come from a good family or one that teaches these values they do not grow up to be strong and there will be no great rulers.

I like the way the Hemans wants to reward women for the everyday duties that they perform. A lot of these actions are taken for granted but they are very important. Hemans needed to become a strong and independent woman because she was responsible for raising her own family. I admire that she wrote about her feelings and ideas and she was able to support her family with these ideas. "Her work is a reflection of many of the key social, psychological, and emotional concerns for women in her day."