Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 1-2
Women have no wilderness in them,
They are provident instead,
- Let the criticism…begin. Right off the bat, our speaker tells us what women are lacking: "wilderness."
- Sometimes being wild can be a bad thing. (We're looking at you, Shia Lebeouf.) In this case, though, this seems like a figurative way to say that women have no sense of adventure.
- That idea is carried on when the speaker describes them as "provident," or carefully planning for the future.
- In a nutshell, then, women are all boring, cautious, fuddy-duddies. We wonder if there's a catch to this critique. Let's keep reading.
Lines 3-4
Content in the tight hot cell of their hearts
To eat dusty bread.
- And…there's no catch to be seen. Instead, the speaker describes women as "content," which doesn't really strike us as a compliment. In fact, this is followed up with a metaphor to describe the position of women as being in a "tight hot cell." Now, a tight hot cell might run you a few grand to rent one summer in downtown Manhattan or San Francisco, but otherwise it's not a fun place to be. The image here is one of confinement and discomfort.
- And apparently "dusty bread" is on the menu. Women will apparently eat it without complaint, though.
- All in all, this first stanza gives us a view of women as restrained and restricted. What's worse: our speaker sees them as content to be that way.
- Before we move on from this depressing first set of lines, we should note that we have a little rhyme action going on in lines 2 and 4. Check out "Form and Meter" for more on that.