An Analysis and Summary of Dolores Rosenblum's article, "Casa Guidi Windows and Aurora Leigh The Genesis of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Visionary Aesthetic"

Summary

At the beginning of this article Dolores Rosenblum discusses the uniqueness within Elizabeth Browning’s writings. During a time period where most poets were males, Elizabeth was doing something risky with her poetry because she was creating works that were unconventional and different for the time. Rosenblum states that she [Elizabeth], “…Identifies women as originators rather than as reflecting mirrors for the male poet’s search for self-tendencies, and secondly, makes a claim for poetry as deeply revolutionary as that of the Romantic poet” (61). Elizabeth was setting the stage for women poet’s around the world, she was over stepping the boundaries that had been set for her, and was creating works of art on her own terms, not on the terms of a man. This idea is written about in the first portion of the article, but is indirectly seen throughout as well.
            The main focus of this article is Elizabeth Browning’s poem Casa Guidi Windows. Throughout this article Rosenblum discusses how Elizabeth has used Casa Guidi’s window as a way to foreshadow or has created a “window” into her poem Aurora Leigh. The use of women and children within her poem Casa Guidi is what creates the link between the two poems and the purpose behind them both.

            The article then moves on to discuss the context(s) in which Casa Guidi was written. Casa Guidi was based upon, written about, the political turmoil that was occurring in Italy during this era. Unfortunately, however, because Elizabeth was a woman this poem was not viewed very well by critics. There were claims that because this poem was written by a woman and was being written about political views, a rather masculine subject,  it was irrelevant. There were also claims that this poem was a focus on just Elizabeth’s views, a window into her views parse, and due to this Elizabeth was merely, “…Blurring the vision of the present” (65). These views are rather interesting to take into consideration when we look at the prior explanation that Rosenblum gave about the form(s) in which Elizabeth was using to write her poems. It brings us to question if critics were not approving of this poem because of its political background or if they were not approving of the poem because it was written by a woman who was not and did not follow the “normal” forms of writing, the male forms of writing? The article enhances this idea, that Elizabeth’s poem(s) was (were) merely being judged because of the sex of the author. Rosenblum states that some critics claimed that “…Casa Guidi Windows [is considered to be] “a political poem written by an unknowledgeable and hysterical female” (62). This theme, that women are not fully acknowledged for their work or for anything for that matter, continues later on within the article.

            There is also a point within the article that Rosenblum discusses the ideas of death or being dead. It is rather interesting that death/ the dead are mentioned within Casa Guidi because death is used in many of Elizabeth’s poems. Rosenblum believes that Elizabeth is using death within Casa Guidi as representation of a rather courageous act. There are points within Casa Guidi that Elizabeth makes the assertion that the dead would be more apt to take charge and stand up and fight against the political problems than those who are living are. Rosenblum states, “As neither leaders nor people have acted courageously or wisely, she can exempt from complicity on the dead themselves, who now become the “seeds of life’” (64). By this Rosenblum is stating that Elizabeth felt that the dead were the ones who would, if still alive, be the “seeds of life,” the ones that would stand up for what they believed in and start something new. While those that were living were conforming to meet society’s needs/ beliefs, Elizabeth felt that the dead would have rose up against society. It leads us, readers, to question if Elizabeth is using death as a courageous act? Meaning that she is using this idea that, those who are dead are courageous, within Casa Guidi?
            The last portion of the article seems to be the most important. This portion of the article discusses the use of motherly figures within Casa Guidi. Motherly figures, like death, are represented a lot within Elizabeth’s poetry; however, in Casa Guidi the motherly figure is presented in a rather different way. Within Casa Guidi Rosenblum claims that there is a twist in the meaning/ context in which Elizabeth had written the poem; this twist Rosenblum terms as the double vision of the poem. While many believed that Elizabeth’s main intention was to write solely about the political turmoil that was occurring at this time, Rosenblum believes otherwise. The use of women is so unconventional within Elizabeth’s poem that it seems that Elizabeth is actually trying to write about the turmoil(s) that women are facing in society. Although Elizabeth is not blunt about this purpose, it can be assumed that she is using the women within the poem as a way to represent women in the day to day life. This double vision, once found, becomes the sole purpose behind the poem and the political context(s) just become the extra addition to the poems historical meaning.

Analysis: The Use of Women in Casa Guidi

            Elizabeth wrote this poem at a time where women did not have voice within society. Women were not active members of the world and they definitely were not alive in the eyes of their male companions. Elizabeth wrote at a time where women were merely seen as pieces of property. To most people of this time women were dead to society.
            This idea of “women being dead” becomes a theme throughout Casa Guidi. It is interesting to look at each of the motherly figures that are represented within Elizabeth’s poem because each of them are dead in some way, whether they are dead figuratively or physically, their death is apparent within the poem. Rosenblum claims that within Casa Guidi that there is a “… exclusion from society; on the symbolic level, the woman who had been set beyond the boundaries of signification altogether” (65). Each of the women within the poem, even the poem itself which is thought to represent a woman as well, is cast away from society because she/ they have overstepped a boundary in some way. It is because of this that they all end up dead within the poem.

            “And how they called her childless among mothers,

            Widow of empires, ay, and scarce refrained

            Cursing her beauty to her face, as brothers

                        Might a shamed sister’s,--“Had she been less fair

            She were less wretched,”—how, evoking so” (Elizabeth 238-39).

This description/ claim on page 239 is the first woman that we see within Casa Guidi. Although this woman is not physically dead, she is figuratively dead within society. It is apparent that this woman has overstepped her boundaries within society and because of this society has turned on her. The claim about her beauty shows the views that society has of her now that she has carried out such an act. Although the woman is very beautiful they, society, believe(s) that because of her acts she is now ugly inside and it should carry into her beauty on the outside as well.

            The next woman that we see within the poem is Juliet. Juliet is another woman who has overstepped the boundaries set for her within society. Although it was made clear to Juliet that she could not be with Romeo she chose to anyways; however, in the end this choice is the culprit behind her death. The poem talks about Juliet lying in her “violet trough,” which can be interpreted into her violet tomb (Elizabeth 239). Juliet’s death is both physical figurative. There is also a death that has occurred for her figuratively within society because she chose to be with Romeo.

            The next woman that we see within the poem is night itself. On page 241 we see Elizabeth refer to the night as “she.” Although it is not declared within the poem that the claim that night is representing a woman represents a form of death for women, it could be claimed that it does. The night is continually dying with the rising of the sun. If women represent night, then it may be assumed that men represent the day. The males have dominance over women, as the sun has dominance over the night, and they continually destroy women’s “light(s)” within society. Women do not have a voice and they have no power within the eyes of men and because of this they are associated with the night or the dark.

            “Outface the whistling shit and hissing waves,

            Unit she felt her little babe unborn    

            Recoil, within her, from the violent staves

                        And bloodhounds of the world.—at which, her life

            Dropt inward from her eyes and followed it

            Beyond the hunters. Gabribaldi’s Wife

            And child died so. And now, the sea-weeds fit

            Her body, like a proper shroud and coif” (Elizabeth 268).

This is the final woman that we see within Casa Guidi. It is interesting that it is not just the woman who dies this time, but also her child. Much like the other women within this poem the wife of Gabribaldi has overstepped a boundary in the eyes of society. Gabribaldi’s wife is the unconventional women; she does not live in the “typical” way, and more than likely will not mother her child in the typical way either. The death of the child in this scene seems to signify something greater than just the death of women. It seems to signify the idea that as you kill the mother, either physically or figuratively, you kill her child/ children as well. It adds a brutal twist to what the hands of society are doing to its women and children. It is the idea that they are killing them without a second thought or care in the world.

            If we look at the poem itself and use the idea that Rosenblum touches on within her article, that the poem/ narrator is a woman also, then we can see another death within the poem as a whole. It is again a figurative death, but here we see the narrator never leaving Casa Guidi, she only watches the world through her window. This woman is not alive within society because she is not ever able to interact with those who are apart of the outside world. With this interpretation we cannot help but ask if this is Elizabeth herself? Could it be that Elizabeth, a woman who was accepted, by some, to be one of the best women poets of her time, felt dead to society?
I suppose this is one of the beauties of Casa Guidi. Although we can assume that this interpretations of women was intended by Elizabeth and that the woman looking through the window may be Elizabeth herself, we will never truly know all the secrets that lie behind the text of Casa Guidi Windows.

Works Cited:

Browning, Elizabeth B. "Casa Guidi Windows." Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Selected Poems.      Ed. Marjorie Stone and Beverly Taylor. Ontario: Broadview Editions, 2009. 237-71.     Print.

Rosenblum, Dolores. "Casa Guidi Windows and Aurora Leigh The Genesis of Elizabeth Barrett   Browning's Visionary Aesthetic." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 4.1 (1985): 61-68.          Print.

© [Mykenzie Fox] [http: // COUNTGISMOND.blogspot.com/ ], [2013]. Unauthorized use and/ or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/ or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Mykenzie Fox] and [http: // COUNTGISMOND.blogspot.com/ ] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.