Chelsea D.'s Canonball

Chelsea Dicus 3/20/11 A Canontribution by Hemans

The Romantic era was a time for new ideas and change which led to an increase in output from female writers who asserted their independence in a patriarchal society. There were different approaches to this progressive assertion, some of which were aggressive and others which were more subversive. One author who challenged conventional ideas about gender roles through subversive means was Felicia Dorothea Browne Hemans. She subtly emphasized equality by focusing on the strength of family and the bonds between parent and child rather than by attacking the gender roles or males themselves. She was a very influential writer, but because of her representations of the domestic lifestyle, many people think of her as conventional rather than progressive. However, Hemans's work was progressive in its subtle undermining of the assumption that women should only be mother and wife. In the poem “The Graves of a Household,” Hemans shows a family that grows together but then separates, conveying a sense of desertion which can be extended to the absent father while exemplifying female independence. Although Hemans suggests that independence can be a good thing, she admits that people still need human connections and family is still important.

Hemans introduces this poem with an image of children growing side by side in beauty and in happiness, but she then parallels the idea of desertion with the morbid ending of the children's deaths. This shows the deep-rooted connection of the family but leads the reader to a morbid suggestion that their separation brings on their own ruin or is at least tragic because of the loss. The separation does not only bring the ruin of the children, but it also brings the ruin of the parent who is left living. The reader's sympathy is captured when the parent cries out, “Alas! for love! if thou wert all,/And nought beyond, oh earth!” because it seems that love is not enough (31-2). There is nothing that can be done about the death of the children and the lingering love pains the parent. Hemans carries on this theme of desertion by suggesting that the father is no longer a part of the family. The parent is a “fond mother bent at night,” but the father is not mentioned anywhere in the poem which suggests not only his absence but also a lack of involvement in the family's life (5). She even goes on to say “pray'd/Around one parent knee,” which deliberately emphasizes the absence of the other parent (27-8). The theme of desertion is prevalent in Hemans's work because she has a “deep-rooted connection in her psyche between male desertion and female literary creativity,” though her main focus in this poem is on the desertion of the children rather than the father (page 1179). It is also important to note that desertion can both empower and debilitate a person depending on the person and situation. The mother finds power within herself from her capabilities of raising a family on her own, but the children's desertion leaves her devastated.

By focusing on the connection between the children and mother but leaving out the father, Hemans suggests that the mother was able to raise her children without a male, ultimately implying through subversive means that there should be equality between the sexes. As a woman in the Romantic era, this was quite a feat for it was hard to financially support your family with the social inequalities and prejudices. Though Hemans does not imply that a male figure in a family is bad, the absence of him does not deprive the children from growing up happy; ultimately implying that a female has equal capabilities in supporting her family. This approach to equality is much different from some other female writers of the time such as Mary Wollstonecraft who brutally attacked the concept of male superiority and implied women were just as capable as men if not more so. Wollstonecraft “attacked her society's gender definition of the female as innately emotional, intuitive, illogical, capable of moral sentiment but not of rational understanding” while Hemans tried to show power within the domestic family life (367). Specifically, Wollstonecraft tried to redefine what it means to be female whereas Hemans embraced her role in society and found power within it. Even without thrashing out at male superiority, Hemans was able to stay progressive and support female independence through her writing.

However, though Hemans shows female independence from a male counterpart, “The Graves of a Household” shows a dependence on the children themselves. The children are utterly dependent on the mother while growing up, but after they disperse and meet their ends, the mother is left devastated and alone. The nature imagery Hemans uses reflects the mother's loneliness such as with the “blue lone sea,” and just like the sea the mother cannot change what has happened (line 13). This shows that a female can assert a great deal of independence from men, but they still need basic human bonds and relationships and cannot escape all levels of dependence. The poem goes even further with this by suggesting that independence is important, but too much independence is a bad thing. The mother is seemingly left without other obligations for others and can be considered as close to independence as possible, but she is also left without reciprocated love. Hemans is suggesting that though it is good for a woman to be able to support herself without a husband, she should not turn away from domestic obligations and deny familial connections altogether.

Hemans wrote many poems which focus on the relationship between mother and child while subtly asserting female independence in a time when equality between the sexes was unprecedented. This independence is related to the theme of desertion because the women must provide for herself and family without the support of a male figure. Though many readers interpret Hemans's writing as encouraging the conventional domestic lifestyle, Hemans merely accepts that people rely on human connections, and the bond between a mother and her children are strong. The idea that women can support themselves without a husband was still a progressive concept and led the way for a greater level of equality in later years.

Word Count: 1050