Even though Muriel Rukeyser writes her poem, “The Poem as a Mask,” in the first person, she is speaking for all women who feel intimidated by a stereotypic society that expects them to fade in the background of political issues and expression of self. This poem is her way of waking up women and giving them a voice.
Muriel Rukeyser was an undaunted political activist. She was born on the thirteenth of December, 1913 and died on the twelfth of February 1980. She attended Ethical Fieldstone School, Vassar College, and Columbia University Despite the fact that slavery was abolished and women had received the right to vote, there were still many issues that Rukeyser thought should be addressed and she spoke about equality, feminist and social injustice and Judaism loudly in her poetry. In early twentieth century America, she was recognized as the most outspoken woman writer
Muriel like most of the women of her time was afraid to say what she really feels as is clearly seen in an earlier poem, “Orpheus.” In this poem women are presented as being contented and enjoying the lives they lead; they are portrayed in a psychedelic state that masks the real women. In the first stanza “The Poem as Mask,” Muriel decides to right that wrong and she addresses herself first. She turned the spotlight on herself; she is saying you are a liar and you have misrepresented women, just because they accept their plight does not mean that they are in a state of euphoria. Muriel critics herself for the mask she puts on and extends it to all women; in lines four through eight she says: ‘it was a mask; when I wrote of the od,/fragmented, exiled from himself, his life, the love gone/down with song,/it was myself, split open, unable to speak, in exile from/ myself. “Muriel treats herself with utter disgust for her mythical view of women under oppression.
The first stanza bears another meaning also it refers to childbirth and implies that childbirth is not a happy occasion for women. However, as the poem enters stanza two the real truth is spoken, childbirth is painful and if there is an alternative to labor women would gladly take it. She says: “There is no mountain, there is no god, there is memory/ of my torn life, myself split open in sleep, the rescued/ child” (lines 9-12). Lorrie Goldensohn says that the poem is charge even if the reader is not aware of the fact that she awakes form a caesarian delivery to discover that she has been given a hysterectomy without her consent, the poem is charged “with the famous masks and mythologies still flashing their exclamation points like stoplights.” The poet consoles herself with the gift of her child and does what most women would do, put on a mask and cover the emotional pain (1999). In the third stanza which is a single line the poet declares “No more mask! No more mythologies!” The poet is speaking to all women, she advices women to speak their minds and not to mask their feelings and accept what is done to them as the lot that is bestowed on women.
In the twentyish century a woman’s job was defined as wife and mother and if she had to work she would be a secretary, office clerk or school teacher. A woman as an engineer, doctor, scientist, or high ranking military personnel was out of place and was ridiculed; Muriel Rukeyser who was a poet and political activist uses “The Poem as Mask” to send a strong message to women, who like her might be tempted to smother their feelings, to stand up and let their voices be heard.
Work Cited
Goldensohn, Lorrie. (1999). The Life and Writing of Muriel Rukeyser’ "Our Mother Muriel" New York: St. Martin's Press, Print
