Women’s Rights

By Annie Louisa Walker

About the Poet: Annie Louisa Walker was a teacher and author. Born in
Staffordshire, England on 23rd June 1836, she was the ninth child of her
parents Robert and Anna Walker. In 1853, their father, who was a civil
engineer, moved the family to Canada. In 1858, Annie Louisa founded a
private girl’s school with her sisters Frances and Isabella. The school
was only open a few years before the deaths of Frances and Isabella
forced its closure.

Poems by Annie Louisa had been published in newspapers

and periodicals beginning when she was a teenager. She published an
anonymous collection of poems entitled Leaves from the Backwoods in
1861. From this volume the poem ‘The Night Cometh’ was taken and
set to music by Ira D. Sankey, who published it as a hymn ‘Work, for the
Night is coming’ in the collection Sacred Songs and Solos.

SUMMARY

The poem ‘Women’s Rights’ consists of six stanzas. Each of these

stanzas is again made up of four lines. Hence, the entire poem consists
of twenty-four lines in total.

1st stanza:
You cannot rob us of the rights we cherish,
Nor turn our thoughts away
From the bright picture of a “Woman’s Mission”
Our hearts portray.
In this stanza, Annie Louisa addresses society at large, and says that
society should allow women to pursue the kind of life that they value.
Society should also not convince them to think of anything other than
what they believe is women’s duty to the world. This sense of duty is
not a burden to women, but rather it cheers them and provides a bright
vision for their future. It is also a call that comes to them directly from
their hearts, hence it is natural and instinctive, and cannot be
suppressed.

2nd stanza:
We claim to dwell, in quiet and seclusion,
Beneath the household roof,–
From the great world’s harsh strife, and jarring voices,
To stand aloof;–
In this stanza, Annie Louisa acts as a representative for all women of
Victorian English society, and speaks on their behalf. She says that
women stay within the domestic sphere, away from the world of men,
in peace and quiet. This world of men is what lies outside the threshold
of the house, and is in direct contrast with the world of women. Instead
of tranquility and silence, what you find in the world of men is
discordant noises, and many arguments and battles. Women choose to
stay away from all this trouble, and concentrate instead on making the
home a welcoming and peaceful environment.

3rd stanza:
Not in a dreamy and inane abstraction
To sleep our life away,
But, gathering up the brightness of home sunshine,
To deck our way.
In this stanza, Annie Louisa defends Victorian English women’s lifestyle
from the way in which it can be misconstrued. She says that women
may choose to live separate from the difficult world outside, but this is
not any form of escapism on their part. It is not hat staying in the house
is a convenient excuse to while away their time doing nothing. They
don’t just relax or sleep the whole day. Instead, they decorate their
houses with brightness and vigour, in the same way that the morning
sun greets humans with a new day. Just as the sun does away with the
darkness of night, and provides vitality to men, so do women help men
forget the dangers and inhospitality of the world outside as soon as
they enter the homestead.

4th stanza:
As humble plants by country hedgerows growing,
That treasure up the rain,
And yield in odours, ere the day’s declining,
The gift again
In this stanza, Annie Louisa compares Victorian English women with
plants. She says that plants have no pride whatsoever. They just grow
next to rows of shrubs in the rural countryside, but they are very
resourceful despite this. They store up the water from the rainfall that
showers down on them. They do not then waste this water, but give it
back to the earth in the form of the scent they give off all day. Women
are the same way. They take what little is given to them, by way of
what is available to them in nature (for example cotton), and use that
to create beautiful things (like cloth, and dresses).

5th stanza:
So let us, unobtrusive and unnoticed,
But happy none the less,
Be privileged to fill the air around us
With happiness;
In this stanza, Annie Louisa elaborates on what kind of activities women
should engage in, according to her. She says that women should not
crave public audience, as men do. Rather they should remain out of
sight, doing their work without expecting or desiring any prizes for the
same. They should be happy with their quiet little lives. They should
also believe that it is their special advantage that they are allowed to
simply spread happiness to the world around them.

6th stanza:
To live, unknown beyond the cherished circle,
Which we can bless and aid;
To die, and not a heart that does not love us
Know where we’re laid.
In this stanza, Annie Louisa shows what a noble life Victorian English
women should have. In doing so, she sets up a contrast between men
and women of her time. She says that it is men who are valued in
society. Women, on the other hand, only serve those who are valued.
However, Annie Louisa doesn’t think women should resent this kind of
service that they provide to men. Instead, they should be content to
live like that, and to die without anyone other than their family
knowing where their graves are. In other words, women should expect
no place in history.

Central Idea of Women’s Rights:

Annie Louisa Walker speaks frankly about women’s lives spent entirely
within the domestic sphere in her poem ‘Women’s Rights’, as many
other Victorian poets and writers (for example, John Stuart Mill) have
done. What is remarkable about the poem, however, is her attitude to
this lifestyle of the women of her time. Annie Louisa does not feel this
lifestyle to be confining or restrictive in any way whatsoever. Rather
she tries to represent women’s work in the home as an honourable
task, and one that women ought to be grateful for. She believes women
should be content with their lives and cherish the opportunity to make
everyone around them happy.

Themes of Women’s Rights:

Separate spheres for men and women:

In constantly contrasting between men’s world and women’s world,

Anna Louisa advocates the Victorian concept of separate spheres for
men and women. She says that women ought to occupy the domestic
sphere, and men the world outside the home. She associates women’s
world with joyful work, and tranquility. On the other hand, she
associates men’s world with quarrels, disagreements, battles, and other
difficulties. She is also fully aware that it is men whose lives matter and
whose deeds are cherished in the pages of history. Women’s lives are
neither remembered nor should they be.

Women as the ‘angels in the house’:

The common Victorian phrase ‘angel in the house’ is taken from

Coventry Patmore’s poem of the same name. This phrase can be
applied to the Victorian mindset quite easily, and can also be applied to
Annie Louisa Walker’s poem ‘Women’s Rights’. Like others of her time,
Annie Louisa believes it is for women to make the home a peaceful and
welcoming place, away from all the troubles of the outside world, and
that women should be thankful for the opportunity to do this kind of
work.
The connection between women and nature:

Women are often connected to nature in conventional Victorian

poetry, and a binary is set up between women/nature and
men/culture. Annie Louisa’s poem is no exception. She compares
women to plants and says that they both serve men with their
resourcefulness. On the other hand, men shelter women from the
outside world and take an active part in history, civilization, and human
culture as we know it.

Contentment with what one has:

Throughout this poem, Annie Louisa says that women ought to be

content with their roles within the household. They should not yearn
for anything else since the work they do to make the home a better
place is a noble task. They should not expect any recognition in their
lives, or after their deaths either. Instead, they should labor to spread
joy everywhere.