poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

Many feminist critics argue that Dickinson's poem "My Life Had Stood a Loaded Gun" is a poem in which Dickinson (or narrartor) empowers or grants herself destuctive power, a power that has traditionally belonged to men. I need to construct an arguement about why it would be necessary for Dickinson to " take" this power. Doing this while considering the roles that 19th century women were expected to assume. These roles are commonly submissive. Such as "Women gathered, men hunted. Women cultivated nature; men pillaged its harvests. Women nurtured vulnerabliity; men exploited it. These perceptions have been part of the human condition since the beginning of time, and they are articulated brillantly throughout Emily dickenson's "My Life Had Stood-- a Loaded Gun--"."