WA S H IN G -DAY
GENDER DICHOTOMY: US E OF LITERAY
DEVICES AND MONTGOLF IER BALLOON
AN ALYTICAL ESSAY RES EARCH - BASED EXTEN SION
ALLISON GEHRING
BRITISH LITERATURE
5/25/2007
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OV E RV I E W: A N A LY T I C A L E S S A Y
Washing-Day by Anna Letitia Barbauld introduces an ironic view on the power relationships
that existed between men and women at the time the poem was written. In the beginning, the
speaker asserts that a woman performs domestic chores, such as clothes washing, under the
ruling thumb of her husband: “Ye who beneath the yoke of wedlock bend” (9). This blatant
statement perceives women as subordinate to men; however, items within the poem suggest an
opposite relationship. The speaker addresses various ways in which husbands will be ignored
and scolded if they interfere with the washing: they are warned against asking for favors,
expecting a friend to receive hospitality and trying to engage in leisure activities near the house.
These instances of female power within the poem are downplayed by the speaker’s comparison
of women to oxen, and are intentionally masked to address a stereotype that dictates men are
more authoritative than women. Therefore, to incorporate the male vs. female power dichotomy
into the poem, the narrator includes statements that candidly subjugate women in order to
conceal the control they possess over their unaware husbands.
H Y P OT H E T I C A L R E S E A RC H E X T E N S I O N
Further analysis and secondary research on Washing-Day reveals that there are numerous
ways to interpret and approach the poem, each supported with substantiating arguments and
observations. Terry Castle posits that several dualities exist within the poem:



Gender Implications: Masculine vs. Feminine
Class Divisions: Privileged vs. Laboring
Imagination Functions: Drudgery vs. Creativity
The duality that seems to receive the most discussion is the masculine/feminine dichotomy;
approaching gender implications from slightly different perspectives than the analytical essay
explores. I have gathered sources that support the claim that this poem demonstrates a ‘satiric’
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and ‘mock-heroic’ account that fights “masculine pride and simultaneously glorifie[s] the
endless drudgery of women” (Messenger 186). I also have an article that contests the feminine
interpretation and proposes that the poem has a “decidedly masculine air” (Kraft).
A research-based extension of the analytical paper would continue to investigate the
paradoxical interpretation of power relationships between men and women. The analysis would
consider portions of Anna Barbauld’s bibliography to clarify her affiliation with feminism. It
would then explore other ways that the speaker of Washing-Day incorporates gendered
differences, exonerating women over men. Finally, it would take a look at how the last lines of
the poem function as an indicator of the gender relationships present. A few articles indicate that
feminine dominance in the poem is emphasized because it mentions the Montgolfier balloon and
because the narrator associates it with ‘the toils of men’:
Sometimes through hollow bowl
Of pipe amused we blew, and sent aloft
The floating bubbles; little dreaming then
To see, Montgolfier, thy silken ball
Ride buoyant through the clouds,--so need approach
The sports of children and the toils of men. (79-84)
Outline of the research-based extension of the analytical essay:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Introduction (summarize analytical essay)
Anna Barbauld’s Biography
a) exploration of personal life to seek evidence of gender affiliations: anti-feminist,
radical-feminist or partial-feminist
b) If information reveals an element of feminism, it will support the case that the
poem gives control to women (supporting analytical essay’s conclusion)
Sources to support and expand on analytical essay’s points concerning power
relationships that are in favor of women. Sources focus on contextual gender
divisions as well as the gender implications presented by the Montgolfier’s balloon.
a) An Explication of “Washing-Day” by Candyee Klin
b) The Muses of Resistance by Donna Landry
c) European Romantic Review Journal, Reinvoking the “Domestic Muse”: Anna
Laetitia Barbauld and the Performance of Genre by Haley Bordo
d) His and Hers: Essays in Restoration and Eighteenth Century Literature, Heroics
and Mock Heroics by Ann Messenger
Conclusion (restate main points and introduce closing thoughts)
Additionally, I found an article that contests the feminine theory of control that the analytical
essay and research-based extension suggests exists within the poem. Using the Montgolfier’s
balloon as an argumentative point, an article by Elizabeth Kraft: Anna Letitia Barbauld’s
“Washing-Day” and the Montgolifier’s Balloon asserts that the poem favors masculine control.
While this paper would not be useful for the research-based extension, it brings to light a new
way to understand Washing-Day. Finally, it is a useful source to consider since it specifically
refutes Ann Messenger and Donna Landry’s statements concerning the gender dichotomy in the
poem.
E X P L O R A T I O N O F R E S E A RC H S OU RC E S : U S E F U L L N E S S A S A N E X PA N S I O N O N T H E
A NA LY T I C A L E S S A Y A N D S O U RC E C R E D I B I L I T Y
An Explication of Washing-Day
Credibility: An Explication of “Washing Day” by Candyce Klin is a source of information that
is not academically credible. It was found using a regular search on Google, and it was written
by a student for a college course. The paper does not cite sources to support the author’s points,
so it is merely a personal interpretation of the poem.
The purpose of the paper is to explore two different tones that shape the mood of the poem,
and while it recognizes that there are gender differences, it does not specifically draw attention to
any power relationships. First, Klin observes that the mood is laden with melancholy and he
begins to discuss what makes it so sullen. In this discussion he speaks of the plight that women
must feel because they are forced to do the wash; he states they feel like ox “because they have
no choice in the matter.” He moves on to realize that the men “do not feel that the tasks of the
day are that big of a deal, as if the wife has tons of free time.” Therefore, while the paper calls
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out the downtrodden mood and recognizes the difference between a wife’s and husband’s
expectations, it does not notice a power struggle occurring between males and females.
This paper is only useful for the research-based extension to the scope that it supports the
claim that two different roles exist between wives and husbands. It is not applicable beyond this
surface-level observation.
The Muses of Resistance: The 1790s and after: revolutions that as yet have no model
Credibility: This essay, written by Donna Landry, has limited usefulness; it provides compelling
information, but there is not much discussion on Washing-Day. However, the source is credible
as the article was written by an educator and published into a book by the Cambridge University
Press: The Muses of Resistance.
The portion of the chapter that addresses Barbauld’s work is small and briefly introduces the
concept of class differences within Washing-Day. She attests that the poem is given in the
perspective of a middle-class family’s wash-day and ignores the voice of the ‘red-armed
washers,’ the laboring class. In relevance to the research extension, this section mentions that
“protofeminist protest against gender inequality” is present in Barbauld’s piece. She goes on to
refer to Messenger’s outlook on the poem saying that Barbauld “does memorialize the monthly
washing-day as a scene of women’s power,” and then she refers to the Montgolfier image and
what it suggests about ‘male escapades’ and their position in the poem.
Again, this reading does not suggest any new and compelling information about the poem,
but it does serve as reinforcement for the ideas expressed in the analytical essay as well as
supports the research-based extension’s interpretation of the Montgolfier balloon.
European Romantic Review Journal: Reinvoking the “Domestic Muse”: Anna Laetitia
Barbauld and the Performance of Genre
Credibility: Haley Bordo provides a credible and informative literary analysis of the various
ways Washing-Day evokes elements of gender. This article is part of a literary journal called the
European Romantic Review; they release a few journals each year and then publish the articles
into a book. Another way this article gains credibility is by citing a multitude of other sources
the author used to support her assertions and to extract additional ideas.
This article reinforces the claim that Washing-Day deals with gender control issues, but it
also pushes the general analysis contained within the analytical essay a step further. It explores
the literary devices and techniques that Barbauld uses within the poem that subtly reduce
masculine control and power while placing it into the hands of women. The author notes that it
is a mock-epic poem that is meant to lift “the “verse” of her male counterparts and predecessors
into a new and as-it-were non-legitimized form” (188). In essence, Anna Barbauld takes
traditional male forms of writing and nuances and incorporates them into her poem. She uses
“men’s “high-sounding phrase”, their style, formal devices, versification and language” to
decrease their power in the domestic sphere. Specifically, she notes “that this poem is composed
almost entirely of allusions to the writings of Milton, Shakespeare, Pope, Burke, Swift and
Coleridge” (189). In many instances, when Barbauld uses these allusions she changes language
that is praising men and makes it neutral; for example, the epigraph to the poem is from
Shakespeare’s As You Like it, and part of its verse is changed from ‘big manly voice’ to ‘their
voice.’ This poem
asks us not only to look for famous passages by celebrated men, and at how these passages
function mockingly in a poem about women’s work, but also it asks us to keep our eyes open
for the often subtle changes that Barbauld makes to these verses, and how her variations and
decontextualizations function as mode of critique and resignification – “turning” the verses
back upon themselves “again.” (189)
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Such as when the poem says the men’s musings are marred; in actuality, Barbauld does tarnish
the written ‘musings’ of other male authors.
Additionally, Bordo delves into a discussion about how the ‘Montgolfier’ balloon and the
‘floating bubbles’ give the poem an appearance of ‘sublime poetry,’ a technique that only males
employed at the time. The implications of the hot-air balloon and the meanings associated with
the term ‘bubble’ (a deceptive show) creates a foundation for discussion on what the last lines
are implying about the poem as a whole. Is the poem a deceptive show and not really portraying
men and women as they are in society, or is the grandeur of science and the ‘toils’ of men
nothing but deceit and are unimportant?
This essay is an effective source of information for the research extension paper. Not only
does it support the implications presented in the analytical paper, but it examines different ways
the gendering in the story is portrayed. While the analytical essay only focuses on the
actions/feelings of the wives in the poem, this article looks at literary techniques and devices
utilized in Barbauld’s language.
His and Hers: Essays in Restoration and Eighteenth Century Literature: Heroics and Mock
Heroics
Credibility: Ann Messenger’s book was published by the University Press of Kentucky and
includes a number of essays discussing eighteenth century literature. She uses literary sources to
support some of her assertions and provides detailed notes to clarify points in her essays.
The portion of the book that deals with Washing-Day delineates it as a ‘mock-heroic’ story
that takes insignificant tasks and makes them seem unquestionably important:
washing day loomed as large on the domestic front as the siege of Troy… the largeness of
language is both appropriate to the largeness of the events, from the woman’s domestic point
of view, and comically, mock heroically, inappropriate, because the domestic is considered
necessarily trivial. (188-189)
This means that Barbauld purposely made the events of Washing-Day seem unequivocally
important in order to position a semblance of power into female hands. Messenger notes that
women had the control on this day and that men were neglected and unwanted. These
observations support the idea that power is held by wives over their husbands, a backlash to the
typical stereotype.
Echoing Haley Bordo’s claim, she also notices that Barbauld uses literary techniques;
Messenger says she employs the ‘grandeur’ of blank verse (modeling Milton’s style), instead of
couplets, “to support the real importance of the occasion, to dignify the drudgery of women”
(189). Further she asserts that the poem’s language and structure reflects Milton’s style.
Therefore, she also recognizes that portions of the poem are literary allusions, specifically
naming Milton, Homer, Swift and Shakespeare.
Furthermore, Messenger addresses the important function of the Montgolfier balloon in order
to tie in the use of allusions and the “application of the heroic mode to the domestic crisis that
was washing day” (191). In Barbauld’s time, the emergence of the hot-air balloon was a
celebrated event that attracted a lot of attention; it marked a success for science and males. In
the poem, Barbauld compares “man’s greatest exploits” to children’s games and the toils of men
(192). This indicates that “the masculine world of glory and conquest” was not as important as
men seemed to think. Washing-Day belittles man’s innovations and focuses on the prevalence
and nuisance of ‘male pride’ as men are pushed aside during the washing chore: “But the
assumption that what men do is important and what women do is not, is turned upside down.
The women’s washing is heroic; the men’s exploits are child’s play” (192). The implications of
the Montgolfier balloon can be used to illustrate one way in which Barbauld raises feminine
power over men.
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Finally, Messenger dives into reasons why the poem was written in a mock-heroic form. In
support of the analytical essay, Messenger thinks a woman’s control in the poem is masked in
order to conform to the prevailing stereotype. The article demonstrates that by focusing on a
‘domestic topic,’ the poem can be “dismissed as merely playful” (192). Further, Messenger
supposes that Barbauld compares the poem to a ‘mere bubble’ at the end to ‘self-deprecate’ the
power of women that is demonstrated and to soften the criticism of men.
C ON C L U S I O N
The research-based extension of the analytical essay on Washing-Day can be written to
support the essay’s assertion that women hold more power than men in the poem, and that this
power is masked. The research paper will expand on this idea by analyzing different literary
devices Barbauld uses to emphasize the power difference (in favor of women) as well as
consider how the Montgolfier balloon mentioned at the end of the poem posits women with
power.
Each essay expresses a contribution to the theme of the research portion:

Klin’s essay merely points out that some type of gender differentiation is occurring in the
poem, which supports the general foundation of the power struggle.

Landry’s essay draws brief attention to the fact that there is a gendered power difference
occurring, as well as introduces the idea that this control can be illustrated through the
Montgolfier balloon.

Bordo’s article is more useful in the context of the research paper, as it introduces the
general direction the paper will go.
o She points out the literary allusions of male writer’s and different literary devices
that champion female power. Each of these elements will be further analyzed for
the research section.
o She briefly mentions the Montgolfier balloon (it functions to help create a literary
form sublime poetry genre).

Messenger’s essay also gives direction to the research paper:
o She recognizes it as a mock-heroic story that gives women power, but at the same
time, because it is mock-heroic, it downplays that power (consistent with
stereotypes).
o She analyzes the ways in which the Montgolfier balloon functions to reduce the
‘important exploits’ of men, while a woman’s (domestic) business is given greater
importance.
E X P L O R A T I O N O F R E S E A RC H S OU RC E S : C OU N T E R - P ROD U C T I V E A R T I C L E F OR
R E S E A RC H - B A S E D E X T E N S I O N
Anna Letitia Barbauld’s “Washing-Day” and the Montgolfier’s Balloon
Elizabeth Kraft’s essay was published in Literature and History while she was at the
University of Georgia. Her analysis includes an in-depth look at the history of the Montgolfier
balloon in an attempt to debunk Ann Messenger and Donna Landry’s conclusions concerning
Washing-Day.
When Kraft puts into context the types of thoughts that was prevalent in society during the
release of the hot-air balloon, she asserts that the “balloon was not regarded in its own time as a
symbol of masculine dominance, as a mere plaything, or as an escape from harsh reality.” In
fact, it was recognized as a “positive achievement, the realization of a dream;” seen in this light,
the balloon in the poem does not reflect the character of men.
Additionally, Kraft believes that this poem has a ‘masculine air’ because it is written in a
mock-heroic form: “a story of low life, a comic subject, not the stuff of tragedy.” In other words,
domestic tasks are so trivial that they cannot represent deeper inclinations. Finally, this essay
goes as far as to say that “it was the men of the house primarily who were inconvenienced by the
day’s event… The master of the family is made ridiculous by the activity of the women of the
household, his dignity compromised by “women’s work.” On washing-day, this work overrides
everything else, trivializing men’s work and even other kinds of women’s work: mending,
entertaining…”
This article specifically states that Messenger and Landry’s interpretation of the poem is a
‘misreading,’ and then it continues to give reasons why Kraft believes her interpretation is
superior. She bases her whole essay on the idea that the Montgolfier balloon reflects men in
their normal state of power. This article presents a good counter-argument to the others;
however, its assertions seem to be rooted in the idea that since the Montgolfier balloon emits a
‘masculine air,’ the rest of the poem does as well.
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WO R K S C I T E D
Bordo, Haley. European Romantic Review Journal: Reinvoking the “Domestic Muse”: Anna
Laetitia Barbauld and the Performance of Genre. 2000.
Klin, Candyee. An Explication of “Washing Day.” <http://courses.wcupa.edu/fletcher/
britlitweb/cklina.htm>.
Kraft, Elizabeth. Literature and History. <http://www.usask.ca/english/barbauld/criticism/
kraft95.html>.
Landry, Donna. The Muses of Resistance: The 1790s and after: revolutions that as yet have no
model. New York: Cambridge University press, 1990.
Messenger, Ann. His and Hers: Essays in Restoration and Eighteenth Century Literature:
Heroics and Mock Heroics. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1986.