Hedy Lamarr and Emily Dickinson:
Two Women Who Never Had Full Control of their Own Lives’ Courses…
Emily Dickinson, so unacknowledged in her own life time,
writes about being a female poet not fully in control
of her own life and craft. Her male author, for example,
regularized her unorthodox verse, an essential part of
her self-expression. The message? Women should not
presume to take up men’s symbols of power–torpedoes
and guns!
My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun –
In Corners – till a Day
The Owner passed – identified –
And carried Me away –
And now We roam in Sovreign Woods –
And now We hunt the Doe –
And every time I speak for Him
The Mountains straight reply –
And do I smile, such cordial light
Upon the Valley glow –
It is as a Vesuvian face
Had let it’s pleasure through –
And when at Night – Our good Day done –
I guard My Master’s Head –
’Tis better than the Eider Duck’s
Deep Pillow – to have shared –
To foe of His – I’m deadly foe –
None stir the second time –
On whom I lay a Yellow Eye –
Or an emphatic Thumb –
Though I than He – may longer live
He longer must – than I –
For I have but the power to kill,
Without – the power to die –
