Short Poetry and Prose: Satire

October 30, 2008 cutie10

The readings that I found most interesting this week were the poems “The Lady’s Dressing Room” and “A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed” by Jonathan Swift.

The first poem “The Lady’s Dressing Room” is a satirical poem about women and the perception that men have of them, perhaps during the courtship stage of a relationship. The poem features a male suitor named Strephon who enters the dressing room of a young noble woman named Celia. The first two lines of the poem states that Celia’s morning routine takes her five hours: “Five Hours (and who can do it less in?) / By haughty Celia spent in dressing” (502). These lines suggest that women go to extreme lengths in order to look presentable when they are in the company of men. As Strephon explores Celia’s room he finds her beauty remedies and her layers of clothing strewn about the room. It is clear that the more Strephon explores Celia’s room, the more disenchanted he becomes with her. He is grossed out again and again as he finds sweat stains on her clothes, bottles of makeup, and dirty face clothes. Strephon claims that any man who finds Celia sweet and clean is a liar or perhaps gravely mistaken; “But swears how damnably the Men lie, / In calling Celia sweet and cleanly” (503). The poem may be suggesting that after the flowery courtship stage of a relationship is over, women reveal their true selves, which is not as perfect as they initially appear to be.

The second poem “A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed” seems to paint a similar satirical view of women. The poem features a woman who is the “Pride of Drury Lane” as she retires for the night (506). The poem describes the woman as she takes off her wig, fake eyebrows, makeup, etc. The poem also seems to suggest that woman put on a false front in public, and expose their true selves in private. I don’t know if Swift caught a glimpse of his mother taking off her false eyelashes, or was disillusioned on his wedding night, but he seems to be really be fixated on the way women physically present themselves in privately and publicly.