After reading through the essays posted about "The Young Housewife," I have gathered that most base this poem's substance on sexual lust. As Marjorie Perloff stated in her interpretation, "In his erotic fantasy, the poet wants to make this attractive housewife a 'fallen leaf' to the 'noiseless wheels of his car...'" This seems to be a valid interpretation, but the connotation I received from the poem was a sense of respect, and perhaps a bit of tender pity.
Initially, the wife is not only seen, "behind the wooden walls of her husband's house," but also, "in negligee." As Barry Ahearn claims, "The poem focuses attention on various tangible barriers and containers." This conveys a sense that the young housewife is bound by her homely clothing and the wooden walls of her husband's house--indicating that he has control over her. I view the narrator as playing on the word negligee and is intending to channel the impression that the wife is not only bound by her husband but neglected by him also. He sees into her true beauty despite that she is not only un-kept but also unavailable. I feel that the narrator desires to give her the respect that she deserves as woman of beauty--not simply an object of attraction.
Towards the end of the poem, the housewife is distinctly compared to a fallen leaf. In autumn, when leaves start to change colors and fall, it indicates an end to a time of growth and cultivation. However, autumn, because of its brilliant colors, is also considered to be one of the most beautiful times of the year. I feel the narrator here is indicating that, although the housewife is a fallen leaf and perhaps a bit past her prime, she is still beautiful. He is aware that she is married and has a life of her own. He continues to drive on soundlessly except for the crunching of the leaves beneath his wheels--the breaking and scattering of his momentary daydream of what things could be. He continues to drive and passes smiling leaving behind him the fragments of a short-lived whimsical inkling.
I feel that the narrator, for a few seconds, began to daydream about this woman and let his mind sprint off almost subconsciously. Most of this fantasy stemmed from his desire of something he knew he couldn't have. Would the narrator have truly desired the housewife if she wasn't married? In speaking of her husband, how does one know if he actually neglected or confined her? She could have been perfectly content where she was. This whole poem seems to have been derived from a cursory glance and from a series of thoughtless assumptions that ultimately translated into a futile longing for something that the poet could not have.
1 comment:
Matthew,
Outstanding detailed analysis of the poem. You offer an original reading that goes against the grain of most criticism on this poem, and you support it with abundant evidence from the text.
You've also done a good job of incorporating the quotations from secondary sources. You precede both of the quotations with a sentence that paraphrases the subject of the quotation, and you use signal phrases that include the name of the critic to introduce the quotation.
For your long essay, work on your follow-up sentences. In both of the examples in this post you say "This...." You're on the right track, but "this" without a noun after it lacks specificity; it doesn't point your reader to the particular idea that you want to emphasize in the quotation. Instead, restate the point you want to develop or argue with in your own words so your reader knows what you are focusing on.
Kelly
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