the long queen

about

poem abt immortal queen who 'couldn't die'. a queen of women and creates 4 laws that could be argued the most important aspects of womens lives, therefore illustrating importance of females.

key themes:

identity, motherhood, resistance, social experiments, insecurity, legacy.

language

women- united as a group, power and influence of women.
motherhood- expectations of women, their powerful gift or curse.
elusive- women been blocked from history and society
childhood- freedom, innocence.
tears- suffering in the female experience
gossip- unwritten history.

structure

short sentences, long sentences, lists
- 7 stanzas= significant to cycle of women life as weekdays. menstruation?
- 7 further biblically (GOSPELS) god made world in 7 days
- opening w long queen, hints a feminine consistency throughout

context

Queeen Elizabeth (virgin queen) didnt marry or have any heir. big reuirement to marry (arranged), very typical of time period.
- illustrates her capabilities and deconstruction of weak label upon women.

'long queen couldnt die"

reflects the living legacy
die is to be expanded, literally she had died and died but this is metaphorical for the way she cant die or we lose her shaping of history- her contribution to femininity lives forever.

"cold weight of the crown"
" bowed her head"

light juxtaposition, we think of a crown to be something that everyone wants, royalty and materialism yet signified this sense of burden that comes with these responsibilities
bowing=to society expectations- understanding them in order to change the.

'What was she queen of? Women, girls, spinsters and hags, matrons, wet nurses, witches, widows, wives mothers

- asyndetic list, reflects extent and influence of long queens reigns and elongation creates a sense of unity with titles.
No, men, a girls girl.
CONTRAST 1ST STANZA contrasts fairly meek titles in comparison to bolder and connoting more powerful titles connotes their position and relevance in society(men)

'some said in a castle, some said in a tower in the dark heart of the wood, some said out and about in rags'

- sense of ambiguity caused by patriarchy
-some said= vague, linking to society gossip.
- mythical, fairytale atmosphere, links to rapunzel perhaps locked in her position and expectation as queen but further by the patriarchy
- FURTHERMORE: these girls are princesses not queens, ironic as she saves the country rather than being saved by a prince
- 'tower' creates sense of isolation and lonliness of power.

" pain when a girl first bled to be insignificant, no cause for complaint'

oppression of patriarchy is reflective
stigma and shame surrounding female issues
links to cycle of structure often diminished women's power with their period and excuse for hysteria and weakness.
this incapsulates this supposed flaw and rectifies it into a symbol of strength
- PERIODS ARE BIBLICAL PUNISHMENTS.

'Tears: salt pearls, bright jewels for the Long Queen's fingers'

personified tears and female emotion to draw the stigmatisation. of mental health and its association with women
emotion is sensitivity, not irrational
glamourises suffering, turning pain into power- links to idea of 'beauty is pain'- a dismissal

Childbirth, most to lie on their birthing beds, pushing till the room screamed scarlet'

sibilance= hissing, eve and snake and sense of pain in childbirth as punishment. this sense of chaotic and ugly imagery.
perhaps a link to ideas of power as scarlett represents a vibrancy and screamed connotes a sense of anguish and power.- highlighting the significance of childbirth.

sore flowers

indirect euphemism for vaginas
- link to purity and fertility which women are stereotypically refined to.
throughout poem sense of weakness and fragility with women and ironic as completely juxtaposed with the mayhem/strength of childbirth

her ear turned to the light music of young girls, the drums of women, the faint strings of the old'

light music= fragility, innocence and purity. this gentle existence with little experience
drums= dooming, beckoning, daunting (negative experiences of woman hood)
"faint strings"= indicates a beauty in living that is fading into queens memory.
this idea of storytelling,