Introduction:
�The Woman� is a poem written by R. S. Thomas. As the title suggests, it is a poem that is written to commemorate women.
About the Poet:
R. S. Thomas (1913-2000) was a prominent Welsh poet. He was also an Anglican priest. Famous works of his include �No Truce With The Furies�, �A Blackbird Singing�, and �The Woman�.
Structure:
This poem is a lyric that consists of 19 lines encompassed in a single stanza.�
Analysis and Summary:
So beautiful--God himself quailed� at her approach: the long body curved� like the horizon. Why had he made� her so? How would it be, she said,� leaning towards him, if instead of� quarreling over it, we divided it� between us? You can have all the credit� for its invention, if you will leave the ordering� of it to me. He looked into her� eyes and saw far down the bones� of the generations that would navigate� by those great stars, but the pull of it� was too much. Yes, he thought, give me their minds'� tribute, and what they do with their bodies� is not my concern. He put his hand in his side and drew out the thorn for the letting� of the ordained blood and touched her with� it. Go, he said. They shall come to you for ever� with their desire, and you shall bleed for them in return
Summary:
The poem begins with the description of the first woman Eve� God seemed to �quail� before her presence, in awe of her beauty. Here, Eve makes a tempting deal with God� He could take the credit for the creation of the human race if were to let her do the task of �ordering� herself. God could see the truth in the woman�s eyes and the generations that were to come and agrees to take the credit for the mind of Man and not what �they do with their bodies�. And thus he blessed her with the thorn, granting her wish by granting her motherhood.
Analysis:
This poem is written in praise of women, their beauty and their intelligence. Here, motherhood has been represented as a powerful symbol of the creation of mankind. The lines �Go, he said. They shall come to you for ever/ with their desire, and you shall bleed for them in return�, refers to a woman losing her maidenhood to a man in order to procreate. Also, owing to his faith, Christian ideologies can be seen in the poem as well.
Conclusion:
This is a thought-provoking, feminist poem that brings out the importance of women in the survival of mankind and praises them for their mind and grace.