M otherhood In “The Angry W oman” A poem by Anna Wickham By Charity Liu.

MotherhoodMotherhood

InIn

“The Angry Woman”“The Angry Woman”A poem by Anna WickhamA poem by Anna Wickham

By Charity Liu

Anna Wickham was the pseudonym of Edith Alice

Mary Harper.

In 1906 she married Patrick Hepburn who was

interested in Romanesque architecture and

astronomy.

The marriage was a turbulent one.

Patrick thought women should be homemakers and

resented his wife’s commitment to her poetry.

Anna Wickham (1/2)

Anna Wickham (1884 -1947)

She longed for children.

She had a miscarriage and a daughter who died

within moments of birth.

Then, she gave birth to four sons. In 1921 her third

son died of scarlet fever.

In 1947, she hanged herself.

Anna Wickham (2/2)

Anna Wickham (1884 -1947)

Identity

Woman

Bodily / Physically defined

“I am a woman, with a woman’s parts”

“I am a woman in my speech and gait”

“I have no beard”

Blameless for naturally born woman

“I have no beard (I’ll take no blame for that)”

Identity (1/3)

Identity

Mother

Source of motherhood

marriage

“because of marriage, I have motherhood”

based on love; rather for men

“And of love I bear children”

“Do not ask my weakness as a sacrifice to

power”

Identity (2/3)

Identity

Pregnancy—bearing children

honor

miracle

physically weak and suffered

“In the days of bearing is my body weak”

“body’s pain”

togetherness and intimacy

“In many things are you [son] and I apart”

“But there are regions where we coincide”

“Where law for one is law for both”

Identity (3/3)

Sex [female or male]

“Woman”

totally sexualized, trapped in sex “woman”

“In many things are you [“woman”] and I

apart”

“Where law for one is law for both”

“There is sexless part of me that is my

mind”

Causes of Anger — Confinement

Confinement (1/8)

Marriage

bond

1. being mastered

“But why because I do you [husband]

service, should you call me slave?”

“Where law for one is law for both”

2. wearing a mask

“If I must own your manhood synonym

for every strength.”

“Then must I lie”

Causes of Anger — Confinement

Confinement (2/8)

manhood

1. Man with power of manhood controls all.

“In marriage there are many mansions”

“Shall you rule all the houses of your

choice”

“Because of manhood or because of

strength?”

(mansions may be bodies/persons of the

family or every aspect in marriage )

Causes of Anger — Confinement

Confinement (3/8)

2. Sex [male], not strength [ability], decides

who has the power.

“If sex is a criterion for power, and

never strength,”

“What do we gain by union?

union

1. Nothing is owned

“I lose all, while nothing worthy is so

gained by you”

Causes of Anger — Confinement

Confinement (4/8)

Body

Woman’s body as weakness and definition

Body’s love brings body’s pain

Bodily relationship – taking care of children

“Shall I for ever brush my infant’s hair?”

“Cumber his body in conceited needle-work?”

Causes of Anger — Confinement

Confinement (5/8)

Traditional Framework

Marriage / Motherhood

mentally humiliated

“But why because I do you service, should

you call me slave?”

“And how can I serve my son, but to be

much self”

center or wholeness of her life

“That [motherhood] is much, and yet not all”

Causes of Anger — Confinement

Confinement (6/8)

abstract / superficial mothering

1. Abstract name

“I am not mother to abstract Childhood,

but to my son”

“A fantastic creature like a thing of dreams”

2. Duties—housework

3. Leads to disattachement with her son

“Or shall I save some pains till he is

grown?”

“Why should dull custom make my son

my enemy”

Causes of Anger — Confinement

Confinement (7/8)

Privilege of manhood

leaving her

“So that the privilege of his manhood is to

leave my house”

“Or shall I save some pains till he is grown?”

Lack of education

“You [husband] would hold knowledge from

me because I am a mother”

“Power should be added to power(v.)”

“That [mother/hood] has so great an eye it has

no head”

Causes of Anger — Confinement

Confinement (8/8)

Claims for Her Motherhood

Mind > Body

Thought

sexless, free

mentally strong

Heart, love (spiritual love, good affection)

woman need it

“Kiss me sometimes in the light”

“Let me have flowers sometimes”

value for her son

“He will find more joy … in laughter”

Claims (1/5)

Trueness > Disguise

Be true self

“Let me speak my mind in life and love”

she does not want to “lie,” to do things

“falsely,” be a “mime” and be “of pretence”

“Are you content to be from henceforth only

father, and in no other way a man?”

Frank love

“And sometimes let me take your hand and

kiss you honestly”

Claims for Her Motherhood

Claims (2/5)

Spiritual Attachment > Physical Care

Spiritual love

“And love, which has no more matter in it

than is in the mind”

Good affection

Intelligent enrichment

“If he is my true son,”

“He will find more joy in number and in laughter”

Claims for Her Motherhood

Claims (3/5)

Strength / Ability > Sex [female]

Be Wise

She is as good as men or even better

“You calculate the distance of a star”

“I, thanks to this free age can count as

well”

“And by the very processes you use”

“When we think differently of two times

two,”

“I’ll own a universal mastery in you!”

Claims for Her Motherhood

Claims (4/5)

Necessary for being a mother

“Rather for this reason [I am a mother] let

me be wise, and very strong”

“Show him the consolation of mathematics”

Be Strong

mentally strong

To have power

“Power should be added to power”

Claims for Her Motherhood

Claims (5/5)

As a woman, wife and mother: She redefines her motherhood opposing that of

traditional stereotype given by the society. She asks for fairness and equality with men, and

shows the confidence of her capability. She asks for being self and to have her voices. She values what’s under the surface, such as mind,

love, self, knowledge and affection. In her motherhood, she not only can give her son

the traditional mothering but also what men can

give.

Conclusions

Conclusions (1/1)

Ingman, Heather, ed. Mothers and Daughters in the Twentieth Century: A Literary Anthology. New

York: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Text from:

Source (1/1)