Montgomery Woman Angel Essay

— The Corvey Poets Project at the University of Nebraska —

British Poetry of the later Eighteenth and Earlier Nineteenth Centuries

Bibliographical and Contextual Apparatus

Montgomery, Robert

Woman, the Angel of Life. London: Turrill, 1833.

Descriptive Essay

Woman, the Angel of Life has several themes. As suggested by the title, the theme of women pervades the poem. Another theme that is apparent throughout the poem is nature. A few of the minor themes include patriotism to one's country, as well as poetry, religion, family, love, and death. Like much of Montgomery's other poetry, Woman, the Angel of Life is written from a religious stance, and has references to the Bible throughout.

Several distinct storylines are present, although Montgomery does not always make clear transitions between them. The subject of women is original, and although he looks at it from an angle that many others from the time period probably did not, he tends to make the same point over and over. Furthermore, he does not paint a clear picture of the scenes and the people he is describing.

Similarly to other romantic poets, Montgomery personifies states of Beauty, Virtue, and Love. Tranquility and sublimity are two additional characteristically romantic focuses of this poem. The cyclical pattern of life from birth to death is also of strong concern to the poet.

The poem is divided into three cantos, which are written in iambic octameter. The stanzas range in length from 8 lines up to 40 lines. The poem is rhymed in couplets (aabbcc rhyme scheme). Montgomery sometimes seems to subordinate content for rhyme; that is, at times the rhyme scheme makes the poem so determinedly rhythmic that it sounds like a song. The text of the poem extends from page 17-183, and it is followed by the notes from page 187-199.

Introduction

The introduction (pages 5-16) is a poem from the Odes of Klopstock, the German religious poet who lived from 1724-1803. Throughout the poem, darkness and nighttime equate with happiness, and daytime with gloom and despair. The transitions from night to day correspond with the speaker's emotions of tranquility and despair.

The poem begins with a nighttime scene, in which the speaker is having an out-of-body experience watching the ghost of a father greet his wife and children. Although the father loves the children, the mother has a tender and nurturing love for them of which he is not capable. The speaker gazes longingly at the family who appear still to love the father even after his death, and he concludes that death brings the living and the dead together.

While contemplating death, he seems to travel between states of fear and awe. He imagines the mansion that the family once lived in, and the garden they once tended, now empty aside from the memories that remain. He wonders if the end of the world is approaching, as a comet draws nearer to the earth. He reflects on the heroes and geniuses of the past, whose thoughts and dreams were extinguished upon death.

The speaker expresses pity for the widowed mother, who is revealed to be strong even after her husband's death. Although she is not known to many in the wider public world, she loves her husband and her children. Her husband is at peace in heaven, and she is left to suffer here on earth, her children her only joy in life. The strength of this woman leads the speaker to reflect that all women are strong in times of sorrow, and that they invariably bring happiness to the world. He concludes that there is no power as great as maternal love, and raises woman up as the "Angel of earth."

Montgomery's Woman, the Angel of Life seems to be a "spin off " of this poem from Klopstock's Odes. But while the two poems share many of the same themes, Montgomery's poem places a much greater and more extensive emphasis on women. Additionally, Montgomery's poem does not focus as much on the negative aspects of the world.

Canto First

Montgomery begins the first canto by praising nature at the break of dawn:
Earth, air, and ocean! Glorious three,
Whose power is living poesy!
He believes that at only this hour can the mind forget its sorrows and feel the grace of God by observing the beauty of his creations.

The poem then jumps to a scene of an English mariner gazing from a ship across the sea to Sweden. He is envisioning a scene from the war which was recently fought there, while a storm rages on in the background. The patriot mariner imagines that the thunder is cannons booming through the night. Meanwhile, the Queen of the castle across the sea is rocking her baby and dreaming of her youth. The mariner sees her through the castle window, weeping over the loss of her son on the battlefield, and he grieves with her. The war has made him unhappy as well. His only calm is sleep, and when he wakes, he feels dread. He wonders why some die without anyone to mourn their death, while others leave behind many broken hearts. Many of those dying on the battlefield spend their final breaths thinking of a woman back at home. The mariner's thoughts are silenced as the storm seizes the ship beneath the violent waves.

The remainder of the first canto contains Montgomery's reactions to this tragic situation. He believes that although man can hide his actions from other men, he can not hide them from God. Life is a "fountain of unfailing tears," and men must look to nature to help them get to heaven.

The scenario described above seems to build up to the main focus of the poem: that a man's only saving grace is a woman's love. The Queen has lost a son, but she must carry on with her life for the benefit of her other child.

Woman has the ability to be strong in the face of disaster and potential despair. She is man's only light in the darkness, his only meaning in life. He can be successful, rich, and powerful, but without love, he is nothing. Man tries to be Godlike by controlling the wind and waves, while women are in awe of nature. Man typically places woman in second place, as a slave to man. Nonetheless, woman rules the happy place called home with dignity. She brings joy to the world through her "smooth voice, soft word, dear smiles," and is able to tame sorrow. Those who boast they can do without love will die slaves of the world, without passion.

Canto Second

The second canto is set in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the world. Man is lonely, and begs God for "a hand to hold, some eye to meet" (58). God sends an angel in the form of a woman, and when Adam and Eve lay eyes on one another, they "heard their hearts in concert beat," (58) and they fall in love at first sight. Man and woman were created for one another:
          For heart with heart was born to beat,
          And soul with soul was made to meet
          And sex for sex design'd to be
          The dawn of endless sympathy (76).
As the first woman, Eve bears the duty to soothe man and to make him content. In motherhood, she can comfort a child by wrapping him in her arms, thus teaching him to desire this comfort in manhood.

While man is glorified for his position as a poet or a warrior, woman receives little recognition for her contributions to his life. But even great geniuses, including those from Rome and Greece, we are told, found comfort and solace in their homes. The love in the home is hidden from the outside world, but is reflected through the outward talents and achievements of these men.

Dante's Divine Comedy is used as an example of man being guided by woman. In Dante's epic, Beatrice, an angel-woman, guided her lover through hell and purgatory to paradise. Another example is offered in a description of Milton lying beneath a tree and awakening to a woman with whom he falls in love. She becomes his queen and provides him his paradise.

In the conclusion to this canto, Montgomery asserts that if man would respect woman, he would find power in love that would strengthen his genius, allowing him to write divine poetry. He believes that man should immortalize the value of woman through poetry, or "twine a wreath around woman's name" (119).

Canto Third

The third canto is broken into a set of scenarios. The first describes a daughter who is on the brink of womanhood. She loves her parents dearly, but is ready to give herself to another. The parting is bittersweet as she leaves a place she loves to enter a new place that she will come to love. Her mother's love for her is a parallel to mother nature's love for her daughters, the female race.

The next scenario describes this same woman, this time in the role of a sister. The woman's baby sister looks up to her as a playmate and a teacher. When the baby cries, she is the only one who can make her smile.

Another important relationship exists between this woman and her brother. The two adore one another, and although he is away at war, they are together in their dreams.

Although the love she has for these people is not seen by many in the public sphere, it will nevertheless go down in eternity with God.

The final scenario paints a picture of a young couple who go on a long walk. Although they arrive home late, the girl's mother does not become angry because she remembers how it feels to be young and in love.

Montgomery concludes the poem by placing woman on a pedestal, praising the qualities she possesses that man is lacking. He recognizes woman for taking in man with loving arms, and placing a blessing on the home:
          And if there be a home on earth,
          Where nature most reveals its worth,
          And Love his godhead can disclose
          To feelings in their fond repose,
          Till human hearts become divine,
          Angel of Life!-that home is thine! (183).