English Literature

Gender is very important in literature, more so, to poetry.  Notwithstanding the value that poetry has to the readers, gender affects the reading of a poem or a piece of fiction, whether from the point of view of the voice of the piece or from that of the reader.  Most of the time, the role of gender in literature is overlooked in place of the craft itself.  Critical readers often look at the form, the structure, and other technicalities of the poem, unknowingly neglecting how the gender of the speaker or the reader can affect the reading of a particular piece of poetry.  The consideration of gender in the thematics of poetry is very important first, in situating the speaker or the I second, in situating the reader and finally, in better understanding the culture that surrounds the poem as well as the world view of the speaker.  To understand this further, it is best to take into consideration the work of contemporary poets, one of which is Doretta Cornell specifically, through her poem Steady as any ship, my Father.

Doretta Cornell is a member of the Hudson Valley Writers Center, and taught at Pace University, Pleasantsville for quite a while. (HVWC)  Her poem, Steady as any ship, My Father, written in 1944, about the period when US Troops were sent to Asia and many other countries around the world towards the end of WW2, (Worldwar-2) is as classic an example of the role of gender in poetry as any other poem can get.  To better understand how this poem shows the role of gender in poetry, it is first important to consider that at about the time that the poem was written, many US families had to be separated from family members who were drafted for the war.  Hence, we have a high regard for the male members of these families particularly the fathers and male offspring.  They were considered heroes and people whom younger generations should look up to because they fought to restore peace to the world and they carried the banner of the US in their battles.  In this context, we can easily situate where the females were during this time, in terms of social regard.  Women and female daughters had to wait in anticipation for the return of their male family members, and hope and pray that they would indeed, return.  When this happened, the females rejoiced and considered their returning family members emperors of the household, serving them with all possible luxuries, and showering them with much love and affection.  In effect, the males were given a heroes welcome.  (Worldwar-2)  Now, taking this into consideration, we look at how role is perceived in Cornells poem, Steady as any ship, my Father.

Reading through the poem we of course, initially pre-empt the voice, the author being a female however, this should not be because the voice should not necessarily be equated with the author.  So, the I should therefore be determined by the content of the poem.  Unfortunately, the gender of the I does not come until later in the poem, so situating the voice does not immediately happen.  Interestingly, if we go through it line by line, we notice that when the poem begins, we only have references to the voice being a child, but not to the gender of the voice.  The reference to the gender happens in the lines, One ecstatic summer we wore the same  size shoes 10C,  though mine both fit in one of his. (28-30) This is a physical indication that the speaker is female, the shoes of females, although being the same in labelled size, are actually smaller than male sizes by half.  So, with this line we can easily validate that the speaker is female.   What does situating the voice mean at this point, considering that there are other things a reader should be concerned of  Well, once the gender is revealed in the poem, one will most likely read the preceding lines again and have a better idea of why the voice acted the way she did as recounted in the poem.  Other than serving the function of affirming the action of the voice, the poem also becomes more vivid as more imagery unfolds because of the very familiar father-daughter mental image that one can create.  In terms of situating the speaker, the poem clearly indicates that the female daughter or the voice in the poem has great affection for the subject.  In the line I followed him for years, straining  to match his stride, to love  yellow mustard on my hot dogs. (25-27) we notice the voice trying to learn to like things that are not normally liked by her such as hot dogs and the stride of the father  in which case we see how the voice situates herself in relation to the father with the statement, I followed him for years, (25) which, indicates that despite the desire of the voice to follow and grow up like the father such is not possible as the father is male.
Now, going deeper into the poem we find that it is all about the father teaching the child certain things until finally, the voice, using learning how to float in the lines, he carried me  through water and the thrashing world  till my arms could clear my way,  my knees learn the patient buoyant tread  that held my head above the surface. , (35-38) as a metaphor, by virtue of her adoration for her father, learns what the father would like to teach her.  We find here that that female-male bond between father and daughter is existent and is strengthened by the fact that this adoration is intensely magnified by the gender of the subject being male and his being considered to be a war hero, as in the lines, Years of the Navy buoyed him,  bearing the child hed carried into war  in tiny deckled-edged pictures.  Hed been a snapshot then, (17-20) suggesting that the father had a picture of himself and his daughter displayed in his quarters when he was at war  thus, validating the male-father affection that he has for his daughter.

On the matter of gender situating the audience, the mere fact that the voice is indicated to be female initially prepares the audience of what to expect.  On reading, and if the gender of the voice is not known, images such as High on his shoulders, my small hands flat  on his bristly crew cut,  Id try not to grab his ears. (4-7) would not illicit the same emotional response from the reader as it would with the gender of the voice known.  This is the reason why the line as mentioned earlier, referring to the shoe sizes, and validating the gender of the voice, makes a world of difference.  Without that line, the poem becomes generic.  The audience reading it would conclude that the voice was not well fleshed out, and the poem might as well have been the directionless musing of some confused poet.  Another way by which gender situates the audience is it makes the audience aware of the world view of the voice.  This means that the audience will understand why the voice in the poem views certain things the way they are viewed in the poem  in this case, the father-daughter relationship  as the gender will distinctly place the voice in a more tangible and more comprehensible state this being qualified only by two genders, male and female.   The world view of the voice then becomes clear to be one of domestic affection  that the voice, despite the ravages of war, still considers the family precious  quite typical of the female gender, as females are known to be more emotional than males, and tend to be more expressive with their emotions.

Obviously, reading the poem and considering the gender of the voice has its benefits.  The role of gender in poetry, as illustrated in this particular poem is to situate the voice, the audience as well as to give the audience front-row seats to what one would consider the world view and cultural platform of the voice otherwise, with gender not playing such a role, everything would be taken in with a grain of salt, and the emotions expected of the poem would all fall flat.