Symbol Analysis
"The Rights of Women" doesn't just use the images of peaceful monarchs. After all, according to this poem, women need to rise up in rebellion and take their rights by force. Women are armed and ready to fight for their rights with whatever weapons they can get their hands on. And at the time Barbauld was writing this, France was in the middle of its revolution, and it had only been sixteen years since the United States had declared its independence from Britain. So you better believe that the idea of revolution was at the front of everyone's mind as they read this poem.
- Line 1: The speaker addresses "injured Woman" directly, although this universal "Woman" doesn't have a chance to answer—this is called apostrophe.
- Lines 9-12: This stanza has a series of related metaphors, so we'll discuss them all at once: women are told to put on armor and pick up weapons, but instead of chainmail or a knightly suit of armor, they get to use "grace." And instead of regular artillery or cannons, they get to use a soft tone of voice, blushes, and fears. The speaker seems to be suggesting that women have their own weapons already—they just don't know how to use them. That seems like a dangerous and revolutionary suggestion, but that's the whole point.