Gender Strength in Poetry, Essay Example

“He Worried About It” by Sam Walter Foss and “The Female of the Species” by Rudyard Kiplin both discuss the opposite roles of men and women in society. Both demonstrate that while women are typically seen as docile creatures, there is an inherent strength to them that overcomes male power. In “He Worried About It”, the man character is shown thinking about a variety of world concerns but remains unmoved when he see how hard his wife is working. Meanwhile in “The Female of the Species”, the author compares men to women and shows that women are really the stronger gender. The meanings of these two poems were emphasized through the authors’ use of form, word choice, images, and tone. Although the two authors utilized these literary elements differently, both intended to describe the underestimated power of women.

The message of “He Worried About It” is emphasized primarily through the authors use of repetition. To describe the concerns of man, the author provides true statements that do not seem to be of immediate worry and then repeats the phrase “and he worried about it”. However, when the author describes the rough work performed by the women in this man’s family, he claims that “he didn’t worry about it”. This shows that the author believes that the man should prioritize the rights of his family ahead of the rights of the world. As a consequence, the man in the poem is characterized as an insensitive individual who is unable to focus on the matters that are truly important. While the thoughts of one man was discussed in the poem, he is meant to represent all men, who commonly overlook women’s issues. The poem creates imagery of a man sitting and thinking all day while his wife and daughter suffer through difficult labors. This emphasizes the main idea of the poem because it provides a contrast between the lives of men and women in society due to predefined gender roles.

In “The Female of the Species”, the author describes the powerful actions of men but then describes the actions of females as being even stronger. He achieves this by creating imagery of male and female hunters, providing the females with the more daunting tasks. This concept is emphasized by the repetition of the phrase “For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.” In this sense, the author creates a parallel between humans and animals. It appears that the actions performed by the women are fiercer because this is what needs to be done to ensure they survive. Furthermore, the author uses many descriptive words that personify the female character including intelligent and “Mother of the Infant”. He also shows that despite these abilities, women are trapped, by using descriptors such as “Mistress of the Mate”. This poem is meant to show readers that women are suppressed because they are stronger than men and that men are afraid to let women take charge.

In conclusion, the authors’ use of literary elements helped bring the meanings of these poems to life. Both authors used elements of repetition to reinforce the idea that women are strong and hardworking. In addition descriptions are used to personify the male and female characters in these stories. Ultimately, these poems are meant to teach that women are powerful and that despite their tendency to be held back by men, they are capable of achieving greatness.

References

Foss SW. He Worried About It. 1910.Web. 12 February 2015.

Kipling R. The Female of the Species. 1996. Web. 12 February 2015.