Authors have utilized literary devices in their works from the beginning of time. However, with the advent of the Neoclassical age in 1600’s Britain, the societal virtues of balance, harmony, order, and reason began to receive much more emphasis. The sentiment permeated every area of life, especially concerning literature. Mary Leapor, an English poet and maid working in the 1700’s, exemplifies this new focus and threads many of these elements in her poetry to elevate it to the levels of the ancient classics; something audiences craved. Her work, An Essay on Women by Leapor, utilizes a great number of literary devices based on classicism and neoclassicism, but four of the most common and prevalent are found in the author’s use of poetic diction,
…show more content…
Leapor makes a quiet and discrete appeal to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. In The Republic, Plato, as Socrates, constructs the allegory to explain the philosopher’s search for truth. People become trapped in the darkness of the cave, staring at fake shadows cast by puppets and convinced that what they are experiencing is real. When they finally break free, it is a long and arduous task to rip themselves from the safety of a lie into the truth of the sun outside. Leapor attaches this message to her opinion on women. For their entire lives, especially in the 1700’s when this poem was written, women are told that their value rests solely on their appearance and economic status. Lines 7-8 heavily suggest that point: “What numbers for those charming features pine, If blooming acres round her temples twine!” Only pretty rich women can ever hope to be successful as they will be the ones to marry and live in luxury. This is the lie cast on the cave wall by firelight. Leapor reveals the truth –the real world that exists outside the dark cave. Women are much more than their looks and money, and in fact all of those attributes will fade with age as is shown in lines 24-25 “And yet that face her partial husband tires, / And those bright eyes, that all the world admires.” It is imperative that women focus on honing their skills and education because those ideas will not leave with the suppleness of their skin. This is the message of An Essay on
Leapor makes a quiet and discrete appeal to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. In The Republic, Plato, as Socrates, constructs the allegory to explain the philosopher’s search for truth. People become trapped in the darkness of the cave, staring at fake shadows cast by puppets and convinced that what they are experiencing is real. When they finally break free, it is a long and arduous task to rip themselves from the safety of a lie into the truth of the sun outside. Leapor attaches this message to her opinion on women. For their entire lives, especially in the 1700’s when this poem was written, women are told that their value rests solely on their appearance and economic status. Lines 7-8 heavily suggest that point: “What numbers for those charming features pine, If blooming acres round her temples twine!” Only pretty rich women can ever hope to be successful as they will be the ones to marry and live in luxury. This is the lie cast on the cave wall by firelight. Leapor reveals the truth –the real world that exists outside the dark cave. Women are much more than their looks and money, and in fact all of those attributes will fade with age as is shown in lines 24-25 “And yet that face her partial husband tires, / And those bright eyes, that all the world admires.” It is imperative that women focus on honing their skills and education because those ideas will not leave with the suppleness of their skin. This is the message of An Essay on