Poems To Read Essay Samples

Women have loved before as I love now and I, being born a woman and distressed are sonnets by Edna St Vincent Millay that highlight on the issues that women go through. They are written in the first person narration and most probably reveal the experiences that the author has gone through. Starting with the literal meaning of the poems, Women have loved before as I love now, shows a similarity in the experiences that all women go through. It is a poem that talks about love in the perspective of a woman and how they experience it. The author compares the various experiences she ahs gone through as she loves with the experiences of others and realizes a similarity. The similarities are revealed irrespective of the cultural background of the different women and the historical time frame. The author describes some of the ups and downs of love that she has had to go through and realizes that other women have also gone through them.
I, being born a woman and distressed, literally describes the distress that a woman goes through in life. The author observes that being born a woman exposes an individual to some responsibilities whose challenges are inevitable. A woman is designed to carry the burdens of others which she is compelled to handle. Despite the efforts that are employed by a woman to make her environment better, she is not appreciated. At the end of the day, she feels so empty that no one seems to appreciate her efforts. Even with the emptiness she feels, a woman cannot run away from her daily assignments. It is like she was born for distress, which she has to live and die in.
Symbolism is one of the poetic devises that has been used by the poet to describe situations in the poem. The author in the poem, Women have loved before as I love now seeks to draw a comparison between the past and the present. The author could not find of a better way to describe the life of past women than those of the ancient Greek society and the Irish community.

“Of Irish waters by a Cornish prowOr Trojan waters by a Spartan mast” (line 3&4)

The symbolism is meant to distinguish the feelings of love in the Irish culture as well as that of the Greek culture. The symbolism which shows contrasting cultures is meant to drive the message home of how women in different cultural backgrounds and historical timelines expressed similar ways of showing love.
There is also the use of symbolism in the poem, I, being born a woman and distressed where the author uses the phrase “To bear your body’s weight upon my breast” to describe the burdens of society that she has to carry. Being written in first person narration, the term ‘your’ refers to a third party. This means that the woman is designed to take care of the needs of others, irrespective of who they are to them. Symbolism has also been used in the 6th “So subtly is the fume of life designed,” to describe the natural design of a woman that makes her an all round person. Despised of the emptiness she feels in carrying out certain responsibilities, she is still compelled to help and reach out to those who need her support. That is a nature she cannot run away from.
The use of metaphor has been used to reveal that there is nothing new on the face of the world. The poem, Women have loved before as I love now, may be literally talking about women but can also be used to address a general audience. The environment might have changed and the cultures different, yet the issues being faced are not very different. People realize that they have to face similar challenges that were being faced by the generations passed. The only difference is on the approach of such issues and the steps taken to solve them. The second poem also uses metaphor to describe the responsibilities that are faced human beings on a daily basis. A person was born to face various challenges which get complicated by their age. A person goes through seasons of loneliness and emptiness where nobody appreciates their efforts, yet as long as they live, they have to embrace such responsibilities and overcome the challenges that come wit them.
The two poems have been written using a sympathetic tone that is aimed at making the reader to empathize wit the prevailing circumstance. The poems literally tell of a woman who has gone through life with a lot of emptiness as she feels less appreciated. Her experiences make her dig into history to see if the issues she is facing as a woman are only common to her or a reflection of the female gender. She is shocked to realize that it has always been the situation before and that nothing can change her present situation. She expresses her fears of being in her gender and the fact that women that will come after her will still have to face similar challenges. The author is however encouraged to know that what she goes through is faced by millions of women in different cultural backgrounds. She accepts and appreciates it as a feminine responsibility and the fact that she was born with all the qualities that will help her overcome them. The poems theme is aimed at passing an important message to the audience to make the burdens of the female gender bearable by appreciating them. The saddest seasons that a woman goes through is for her efforts to go unnoticed and unappreciated, and hence making her live in emptiness.
Poetry serves the purpose of conveying a message to the society in a language that will be appreciated by all. The poems are written in a way that makes them adapt a particular meaning basing on the intentions of the audience. Unlike many works of literature that are written to convey a particular theme and message as deemed by the author, poems are written by the author for the interpretation of the audience. The different styles used, which include figurative language and symbolism are to make it easy for the audience to interpret, basing on their cultural beliefs and background. There is no wrong interpretation of the poem, as long as the reader concentrates on the style and language used. A single poem could be addressing numerous issues of poverty, racial discrimination, gender responsibilities, issues of modernism and even those of the past histories. However, most poetry interpreters look at the social background of the author with the aim of determining the motivating factors behind their poetry. The style of interpretation makes the reader to relate what was happening in their lives and the current situation basing on their emotional expressions.