The Poetry of Wylie Essay Example

The twentieth century was dominated by poets such as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou, but the beauty of poetry must be expanded into lesser-known poets. Such is the case for Elinor Wylie, who did gain traction as a poet in the post-WWI years, but later fell out of the public eye for many reasons (“Wylie, Elinor (1885-1928)”). Although she did fall out of the public eye, she continued writing to enlighten those who read it with her concept of purity, an equal society. Wylie’s poetry uses vivid imagery and self-obsession to emphasize the shortcomings of society.

Wylie described the complexities of her topics through the elegance of sensory phenomena. When exposed to literature which appeals to the senses, people can greater understand the complexities of an argument. Additionally, sensory appeals draw in the reader’s attention, resulting in more thoughtful reading. In  “Wild Peaches,” Wylie says her–and “you,” to whom the poem is addressed–will “live among wild peach trees, miles from town, / You’ll wear a coonskin cap, and I a gown”  (Wild Peaches, lines 4-5), a clear reference to the colonial United States. Describing where she will live may seem to promote contentment in the security, but it actually, as seen later in the poem, is the “richness [she] hate[s]” (Wild Peaches line 44).  According to Evelyn H. Himely, “[Wylie’s] division came… between urban and rural” (“Two Worlds”). Wylie visualizes this “division” by euphemizing rural living, followed by saying she hates it. The imagery of a rural lifestyle followed by juxtaposing the beauty with her emotions implies to the readers that Wylie is unsure of which lifestyle she should pursue, urban or rural. Furthermore, the effect of this imagery on the reader is a similar sense of confusion, which encourages Wylie’s audience to consider the benefits and drawbacks of both urban and rural living.. Wylie uses sensory appeals to draw a comparison between the city and farm-life, however, this comparison can also be further attributed to society and the roles of different people within it.

On top of using imagery to map her disparity between lifestyles, Wylie also uses it to portray an exaggerated, although reflective, view of society. Although imagery is often used to describe real-life phenomena, it can also be symbolic of an author’s deeper purpose. According to Hively, Wylie ignored “the boundaries between fantasy and reality” (“A Private Madness” 7), meaning the imagery she used was intertwined with her imagination and experiences. In “Wild Peaches,” Wylie writes that “The months between the cherries and the peaches / Are brimming cornucopias, which spill” (Wild Peaches, lines 37-38), visualizing the harvests from previous seasons as plentiful. The peaches represent the future, of which Wylie aspires for, and the cherries represent the past, which Wylie is also fond of. The time in between represents the periods  of development where humanity moves to an accepting society which is the spilling cornucopia. Wylie connects her conflicting thoughts about past and future with beautiful imagery, encouraging the readers to understand the complexities of reality through a hyperbolic lens, which can possibly be seen as self-obsession.

At first glance, Wylie’s consistent referral to the events in her life seems self-righteous, but consistent use of first-person pronouns represents a referral to  others, rather than the speaker. Similar to mocking in conversation, adopting a first-person perspective in writing allows for the narrator to either be someone else or represent someone else. In “Let No Charitable Hope,” Wylie says “I was, being human, born alone; / I am, being woman, hard beset” (Let No Charitable Hope, lines 5-6), and, although she is referring to her firsthand experience as a woman, she is rescinding the embedded sexism within the society of the United States. By saying that “I am…,” Wylie distributes her experiences as a woman to her readers. According to Elfenbein and Hoagwood, Wylie’s poetry “dramatizes the same dialectic that emerges in Wylie’s own life”  (Elfenbein and Hoagwood). This further exaggerates the point that, although she writes from her own experiences, Wylie considers her own experiences to be representative of a government body which is negligent of its duty to serve all people equally. Moreover, the self-obsession Wylie appears to have in writing is actually a collective body of like-minded individuals who believe the early 1900s treatment of women is unjust. As well, similar to a statement by John G. Rodman, Wylie’s poetry outlines the duality of mankind by being characteristic of “arrogance and insecurity, [and] competitiveness and self-doubt” (Rodman). By attributing the speaker of her poetry as emotionally hypocritical, especially in conjunction with the ending purpose of her poetry, Wylie progresses the idea that, as a result of women’s oppression, no stability of a nation is possible. Remembering the speaker in her poems is all-inclusive–and not exclusive–the delusional emotions of the speaker is a reflection of society, and not Wylie herself. Wylie’s self-obsession in her poetry is not reflective of her personality, but rather reflective of the unfair treatment of women in modern civilization. 

Lastly, Wylie’s purpose in writing poetry, brought forth through imagery and self-reflection, is to highlight the failures of humanity. Describing mankind’s failures incites a sense of moral obligation for the readers to cooperate and fix the mistakes of mankind. According to Martha Elizabeth Johnson, “[Wylie] conceived the idea that our senses are nets which are not strong enough to control [our] emotions” (Wylie and Johnson). By comparing bottled-up emotions to a faulty net, it can be inferred that, at some point, the hypothetical “net” will snap, and all of the emotions will flood out and result in chaos. Wylie urges that, instead of allowing for an explosion of emotions, the societal approach to dealing with emotions should be altered to ease the overall pressure on individuals. Not only does this apply to emotions, it can be further attributed to women’s rights as well. If women are held back by “nets which are not strong enough” (Wylie and Johnson), Wylie believes the results will be catastrophic for both men and women alike. Symbolically, the ropes of a net decay after many years of use, and the years of patriarchal rule have worn down the “net” which prevented the equal status of men and women. Similarly, Wylie's purpose is also to encourage acceptance of differences instead of assimilation. Accepting the differences of people, whether male or female, white or black, and so on, results in greater progress and contentment of humanity, as less time is spent focusing on innate characteristics. According to Laurence Perrine and James Reid, the four seasons of New England “contrast[s] with the single… season of the tropics, and remind us the evanescence of delicate beauty is one thing that makes it so precious” in Wylie’s poem “Puritan Sonnet” (Perrine and Reid). Although the differences between the seasons of New England and the Tropics may seem to counteract each other, Wylie considers each one uniquely beautiful in itself. Conversely, this is also representative of the differences between men and women. The two sexes, entirely unique in their own, must come together in order to form the “delicate beauty” of humanity. The comparisons between seasons and humanity affects Wylie’s audience by visualizing the simplicity of equality, but showing how far humanity is from such a simple solution.

In summation, Elinor Wylie’s purpose of highlighting the poor ethics of society was brought about in her poetry through use of imagery and symbolic self-absorption. The imagery she used resulted in a simple understanding of the elegance of nature and humanity’s distortion of this elegance, and her selfishness actually represented the duality and hypocrisy of humanity’s created rules. The readers of Wylie’s poetry, as a result of her imagery and egocentrism, are left with a profound understanding of humanity’s shortcomings and a desire to amend the national community. She reminds mankind that its mistakes can blossom into prosperity.