Under Construction Journal Issue 6.1 UNDER CONSTRUCTION JOURNAL 6.1 | Page 60

Figure 2:
Self Portrait by Elizabeth Siddal. Oil on canvas, 1853-54, Private Collection
Over one hundred years later, concerns about the ownership, condemnation and depiction of the female
body still remain prevalent in conversation and popular culture. Despite this, female voices are becoming
more vocal, more aware of their unapologetic power and the presentation of their bodies. Examples
include the 2018 National Poetry Competition commendations, such as Ella Frears’ “Fucking in Cornwall”
with the line ‘I’ve pulled my sleeve over my fingers and picked a nettle/ and held it to a boy’s throat like a
sword’ and Natalie Shaw’s “I know you only invited me in for a coffee, but” concluding with ‘I am breathing
fire and a bit too busy to help.’ These examples emphasise the modern female poet’s ability to impose a
threat on the body of the male. Female voices are becoming freer and more direct in expression. Taboo
topics, which were previously hidden through allegory to the natural, have become a rational,
straightforward argument for the female body, such as Rupi Kaur’s poetry containing the lines: ‘the next
time he points out/ the hair on your legs is growing back/ remind that boy/ your body is not his home.’
Nevertheless, the language used still relies upon defending the female body against male possession.
Although Dickinson lived in a society that prevented her from publicly speaking out on these
issues, she anticipated the vigour of women such as those mentioned, who like Virginia Woolf, assumed
the position that ‘killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer.’ Dickinson’s
use of intelligent ambiguity creates an ideal world of her own, one she never visited physically yet existed
within her mind. Dickinson created this world through books, which became her maps and her escape; a
form of escapism that still exists for her readers today. Dickinson’s ability to create a poetic body detached
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