Analysis Of Portrait D Une Femme By Ezra Pound

Improved Essays
Portrait d'une Femme is a poem written by Ezra Pound in 1912. In this poem, Pound describes a woman, almost strictly, through her relationships with men. During this time, women were expected to spend most of their days at home or with their husbands. In Portrait d'une Femme, Pound examines a woman from an abstract angle for the time that this piece was written. The woman’s lack of personal qualities raises questions about societal views of women at the time. Portrait d'une Femme can be analyzed through the use of sociological criticism because of the time period in which it was written. Moreover, it can be analyzed from the perspective of gender criticism because of the woman’s expected relationships in relation to her actual relationships. …show more content…
For example Kenner wrote, “There is no great contemporary writer who is less read than Ezra Pound.”(Kenner, Hugh.) This unconventional way to describe Pound shows a glimpse of his personality, that is not fully visible through his artwork. Pound’s views caused controversy for his time. However, in regards to gender criticism, Pound displays similarities between the woman’s expected relationships in relation to her actual relationships. Moreover, Pound displays conventional ideas about these relationships throughout the poem, Portrait d'une …show more content…
Portrait d'une Femme is a poem written by Ezra Pound in 1912. In Portrait d'une Femme, Pound examines a woman from an abstract angle for the time that this piece was written. During this time, women were expected to spend most of their days at home or with their husbands. Portrait d'une Femme can be analyzed through the use of sociological criticism because of the time period in which it was written. The woman’s lack of personal qualities raises questions about societal views of women at the time. Moreover, it can be analyzed from the perspective of gender criticism because of the woman’s expected relationships in relation to her actual

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The composer of the speech draws upon her individual vision and perspective of women through her study of literature and feminist mind in order to compose a speech it allows us to draw upon our experience to give the text individual meaning (textual detail. This speech successfully achieves this through the level; of integrity that can be identified by the audience’s response. Enduring values and use of rhetoric to match and provoked a response from her audience. The speech was given in a time where western women were becoming incredibly conscious of feminist idealisms and thus the speech is directed towards educated, western women and readers of literature. Responses varied dependent on the individual’s context, for example woman in developing countries may have found it to be trivial in the mechanics of their everyday lives, compared to a woman in developed society who are becoming increasingly feminist consciousness.…

    • 886 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    While Abbott’s, “Flatland” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper” both illustrate critiques towards gender roles, such as women being treated unfairly, and man’s role being superior to women, these authors reveal numerous approaches and techniques toward the narratives’ critiques. Due to the methods and techniques to critique gender roles throughout these two texts, it supports the authors main theme of a typical gender role during the Victorian period. Additionally, Rosemary Jann’s, “Flatland Introduction” assists readers to uncover why the authors use the methods they do in order to offer a critique to gender. Exploring Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” this text criticizes traditional notions of gender…

    • 1861 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Feminism in Literature (A detailed analysis of Feminism in, Story of an Hour; My Antonia; and Yellow Wallpaper) “In November 2015, Hillary Clinton (1947–)—former U.S. Secretary of State, former U.S. Senator, and former U.S. First Lady—was the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. presidential election of 2016, and was heavily favored to secure the nomination” (Collins Lines 1-3). In today’s world women are accepted into society as an equal of man, and of men of all color. For a women to run for President of the United States, it is not a big deal. This may seem as though a mindless assumption to many people in today’s society; however at one point in human history this could be seen as unacceptable.…

    • 2390 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Before the Women’s Rights Movement, women were subjected to the wants and needs of their husbands. Socially, women staying at home and doing what their husbands wanted was considered the societal norm. However, throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some women used writing literature as a voice to show the social injustices brought against women. As more women began to voice their opinions, they were able to start changing the way that they were viewed. Some of these women include the author of “Sweat,” Zora Neale Hurston; the author of “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin; and the author of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As I sat down trying to decide what to write this analysis paper on, I couldn’t fight the urge to write it about Bertha Mason Rochester and the narrator from “The Yellow Wallpaper”. There are so many similarities. A misunderstanding husband traps each of them, they themselves are trapped, they are stuck in their own minds which drive them mad, and so much more. These similarities include the use of a gothic tone, a sense of male superiority, mistreatment of space, and the mental instability of women. In this paper I will analyze Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and how two women battle their psychological behavior.…

    • 1869 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I wrote this last night on my bus with my hockey team so bear with me on anything that seems bad... This 1899 excerpt written by a woman, was banned in many places because of its eccentric point of view. Read the passage carefully. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze how the author reveals the two patronizing and self-centered characters and how big of a role sexism played during this time period. In your analysis, you may wish to consider such literary elements as point of view, selection of detail, imagery, and diction.…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women always have been stereotype had to fight for equal rights and freedom opposed to men feeling as women are incapable of doing the same things the can do. The in the story “The Yellow Wall-paper” the unknown female protagonist “Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able,—to dress and entertain, and order things.” She was expressing how her husband doesn’t look at her as a strong woman and when she would speak to him about different things he would laugh as if she is the joke. The narrator feels as she has so much more potential but she is not able to explore herself as women because her husband would not approve her doing so. In “The Story of an Hour” Louise just wanted to feel liberated and she “When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone.…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    For centuries, women have been viewed as unequal to men, resulting in the further demotion of women and forcing them into abiding by stereotypical gender roles. In Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, the Miss Bennets are a variety of girls that portray the tone and theme of the poem, “Women” by May Swenson. In Swenson’s poem, the tone, theme, and literary devices utilized in the work convey the expectation of women in the 1970s in America as well as coincide with role of women in 1800s England. May Swenson was born in the United States in 1913. She was a well known poet who was highly praised by other poets as well (poemhunter.com).…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marie De France’s uncanny, whimsically lai “Lanval” satirically challenges and reverses the themes of love through stereotypical gender roles, which are unique and romanticized to traditions of the 12th century. Women for eternity have been rendered as beautiful, physical objects, who where inferior to men, and needed nothing more then a body. Marie De France depicted these same stereotypes in her writing but just in a reverse methodology. She criticizes the stereotypes of women with very opposing qualities while still displaying characters with feminism. This poem combines mercy and humility with a physical attraction which indicates the placement of power in the women characters.…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many poets changed the way that modernist poems were written in the early 20th century. Edna st. Vincent Millay was a famous modernist poet who wrote poetry as a political act. Millay wrote topics on how to deal with many different important issues in society, and Millay often thought on how to change those issues. The poet also wrote her poems based on freeing women from the roles society has set them, and also many of her poems talked about women’s sexuality as a way for it to be celebrated and set free.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are many ways the human body can be described. It can be literal, anatomical, or poetic. All of these wrapped up will sum up the essay “The Female Body” written by Margaret Atwood, who put words to the wonders and complications of a woman’s body. With an almost rhythmic writing style, Atwood addressed sexist views and rebutted with an intimate and intrusive account of the role women have within a male consumed society. Atwood successfully uses pathos and ethos argumentative points to bring attention to the hardships women face.…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are multiple similarities shared between both the poem, A Work of Artifice, by Marge Piercy, and the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood. The main similarity is in the overall theme present in both pieces, more specifically the theme of power and dominance. This is not to belittle the significance of other similarities between the two, such as their parallel views on feminism, along with sexuality and control. The novel and poem resemble each other in numerous ways; they both shed light on bigger meanings and issues present in the world. The theme of power and superiority is very evident in the two pieces.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    However, the poem contains erotic undertones. Some critics regard the poem as an exploration of female sexuality, a protest on capitalism and Victorian economy, a feminist poem and a Christian allegory. The poem brings many different perspectives to toward its…

    • 1666 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the romantic period, society judged women on their beauty, something that they have no control over. This idea of beauty being pushed on to young girls and this made them feel as if beauty was the only thing that’s important, but the romantic period literature was going to change that. As shown in Northanger Abbey and A Vindication of the Rights of Women beauty is displayed as the single most important thing for women and the following of these set beauty standards, which is wrong and degrading to women, this then affects how women are depicted in literature, changing the work’s tone to be satirical, making fun of this idea, or rebellious, in going away from these beauty standards. Instead of degrading women based on their beauty, women…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Pretty Face The Victorian era’s heavily influential patriarchal standpoint became the basis of the misogyny seen during this time. Men would often regard the women as nothing more than second class citizens and even as their own property- these views only attributed to the sentiments and feelings they had towards them. If ever women should seek a voice in that society men would take immediate action to force them into uncomfortable situations as they did not perceive women as actually possessing their own voice. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is a misogynistic novella that is made evident by the perils and later suicide of Sybil Vane due to Dorian’s impacts, the tragic love life of Margaret Devereux due to her father’s influence…

    • 1541 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays