Blog 14- Felicia Hemans

In Hemans' poem The Homes of England, she talks of how beautiful they are and how perfect they look. I don't think this shows how she truly felt about marriage and houses (families). The biography said that she thought all men were unreliable and that she didn't really do any of the household duties people thought women should do. "Where first the child's glad spirit loves its country and its God." This line made think that the first house you live in or your parents house, is your home. It doesn't matter if you have your own home or apartment. Where ever your parents live is what you love the most. Hemans makes the Homes of England seem so peaceful in this line: "Solemn, yet sweet, the church-bell's chime floats through their woods at morn"

In the poem Woman and Fame, it seems Hemans is talking of herself and what fame has done to her. "Thou hast a charmed cup, O Fame! a draught that mantles high, and seems to life this earthly frame above mortality" Actually, this could be true to all celebrities. Some people can resist the problems that fame produces. However, others just get one taste of the fame from the charmed cup, and they go crazy. People think that being famous is all fun and games and that those people lead charmed lives. Really they are just doing their jobs and trying to please us.

I happened to read the Companion Reading by Francis Jeffrey and he says "women, we fear, cannot do everything; nor even everything they attempt. But what they can do, they do, for the most part, excellently..." After reading what he had to say, I appreciate the steps that were taking to make women more equal in the world we live in today. I think he was trying to compliment Hemans, but it came out a bit harsh against women.