Comparing The Poem I Being Born A Woman And Distressed
I, being born a woman who grew up on 90’s Disney movies, have seen my fair share of princes and princesses. As a child I knew that your life was not complete until your prince came along and as an adult I still see this same theme over and over again. Modern movies might not be as blunt about it as the classic Disney princess movies but in lots of media we see the subtle recurring theme that a woman’s life wasn’t complete and when she meets her true love, her life is suddenly enhanced. “I Being Born a Woman and Distressed” by Edna St. Vincent Millay may seem to be the story of a woman simply turning down a man but, upon closer examination, this poem criticizes the way that society has trained us to think that because you are born a woman you
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The Petrarchan sonnet, just like the concept of a damsel in distress, is a very traditional and strict form of sonnet. It could be speculated that Millay uses this traditional form just to break rules even more by writing something that defies so much from traditional thinking. Another thing to note about Millay’s take on the Petrarchan sonnet is that it follows a less traditional ending scheme of cd cd cd instead of cde cde. Both of these rhyme schemes have been accepted in the Petrarchan form, however, cd cd cd is the less traditional rhyme scheme. Another way that Millay so subtly defies the traditional form of the Petrarchan sonnet is by playing with the allowed amount of syllables. The Petrarchan sonnet only allows 10 syllables per line however lines nine through eleven contain eleven syllables. By adding one more syllable to these lines, it created a relaxed tone that puts more emphasis on those lines and really makes the speaker’s stance strong. We also know that the Petrarchan sonnet addresses a problem in the first octet and then at line nine the sonnet takes a turn and seeks to resolve the problem in the last sestet. This proves further that the problem is the man coming onto the speaker and her solution is to reject him. Millay uses a very strict traditional form of sonnet to deliver the radical and nontraditional ideas of women being their own
The Petrarchan sonnet, just like the concept of a damsel in distress, is a very traditional and strict form of sonnet. It could be speculated that Millay uses this traditional form just to break rules even more by writing something that defies so much from traditional thinking. Another thing to note about Millay’s take on the Petrarchan sonnet is that it follows a less traditional ending scheme of cd cd cd instead of cde cde. Both of these rhyme schemes have been accepted in the Petrarchan form, however, cd cd cd is the less traditional rhyme scheme. Another way that Millay so subtly defies the traditional form of the Petrarchan sonnet is by playing with the allowed amount of syllables. The Petrarchan sonnet only allows 10 syllables per line however lines nine through eleven contain eleven syllables. By adding one more syllable to these lines, it created a relaxed tone that puts more emphasis on those lines and really makes the speaker’s stance strong. We also know that the Petrarchan sonnet addresses a problem in the first octet and then at line nine the sonnet takes a turn and seeks to resolve the problem in the last sestet. This proves further that the problem is the man coming onto the speaker and her solution is to reject him. Millay uses a very strict traditional form of sonnet to deliver the radical and nontraditional ideas of women being their own