Whether it be now or in the 1900s, talking about one’s sexuality, especially as a woman, has always been sort of a taboo. No one wants to talk about it, but what I think is really interesting is seeing women from the 1900s write about their own sexuality/women’s sexuality and how they promoted it. In the poem "Virgins Plus Curtains Minus Dots" by Mina Loy (1914), we can see how some of the lines reference the repression of women’s sexuality. Loy writes, “Nature's arms spread wide /Making room for us /Room for all of us /Somebody who was never a virgin /Has bolted the door /Put curtains at our windows” and also “With the door locked /Against virgins who /Might scratch.” What I took the first lines as was people see women’s virginity as something that is not theirs, locking it up in and hiding it away. When she writes, “against virgins who/ Might scratch” I think she means that women are willing to fight back and take back their sexuality, just like they do in the women’s suffrage movement. Something was kept away from them, so they took it back. In Edna St Vincent Millay’s poem "I, Being Born a Women and Distressed" (1923) we can also interpret what she writes as promoting women who just want to be able have sex, without having to worry about any attachments or strains. Millay writes “And leave me once again undone, /possessed” (lines 9 and 10) as well as “I find this frenzy insufficient reason/ For conversation when we meet again” (lines 19 and 20). In these four lines when can see how this woman (whether it be Millay or some other women she is writing about) just wants to be intimate with someone with no strings attached, which she should be allowed to do. Everyone should be able to express themselves whether they be men or women. Sex is for everyone and nothing is wrong with that. I think with this poem, Millay is promoting that it is okay to want to be with someone even if it is without any connections.
3 Comments
Sarah Bevan
9/15/2019 10:35:13 am
I especially liked what you had to say about the Loy poem, and I would have loved to hear more of it!! You have great ideas, and I think you are certainly interpreting the poems correctly. Don't be afraid to really pick them apart and explore them deeply. Consider them both in a modern and historical context, and connect those with your ideas to really make your posts powerful. Excellent work overall!
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Cassidy Mustard
9/15/2019 11:10:51 am
Thank you so much for the feedback! I'll definitely try to go into more detail for my next blog!
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9/15/2019 04:20:40 pm
I have noticed many people doing these poems. Honestly, I took it way too literally - even though I've been close-reading things for years. I think that your thoughts about suffrage are spot on. I also like your use of breaks in the lines when you quote (I feel like such a geek when I say this, but I like literary devices such as those.)
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