Woman's Rights

Woman's Rights

This is a poem which requests to know what the rights of women are as a result of viewing these rights as difficult to determine. In this poem, Burnside reflects that women have not changed over time and had not considered the idea of “woman’s rights” a long time ago. She also states the idea that women have a “duty” to fulfill on Earth which consists of brightening the world through working and serving instead of having personal desires. Women are indicated to serve through providing assistance and sympathy. The qualities of being able to demonstrate support and compassion are believed to be the rights that women possess which can never be taken away from them. It is implied through this poem that although the rights of women are challenging to define and are more glorified than given, women will continue to be kind and caring individuals, which is both the greatest right and an inalienable one. The idea of the duty of women appears in the story called “Dreams” by Olive Schreiner in Chapter III, The Gardens of Pleasure, as well when the woman is displayed to provide her flowers to Duty as a result of her sympathetic and supportive character as a woman. The rights of women that are emphasized by Burnside are therefore also revealed to be present by Schreiner since this woman satisfies Duty’s requests as her own responsibility by offering him every flower that she has. The image displayed below this poem is of nature and this image correlates with the setting of both the poem and the story as they both take place in nature and make a statement regarding a woman’s relationship with the world. Additionally, this poem was written in 1893 which was a time when women had a certain amount of rights but were still working to advance these rights. The idea that women did not have the amount of rights that they should have at this time and that claims of their existence exceeded their reality is exhibited by both Burnside and Schreiner.

Burnside, Helen M.

NYPL, 19th Century UK Periodicals (Series I & II)

London: Religious Tract Society

January 07, 1893

British Library

Octavo, 1 page, 1 illustration

Poem