Both motherhood and marriage can constrain the individual identities of females. Females are subject to seduction by their husbands, and then enslaved into a life of submission. Liberation is possible in the mind only. The mother in "Day Star" builds fantasy "palaces" and craves some kind of space away from her everyday life -- even if that space is purely empty. The wife in "Paper Matches" rebels inwardly at the gender norms that permit the men to play while the women work.
As feminist poems, both decry the institutionalization of gender norms and roles. While women may have the choice of whether or not to enter into a traditional heterosexual marriage, the options outside of motherhood are rather limited. Although a more uplifting poem might depict a woman who never got married or had children, both Jiles and Dover critique the gender roles that dominate traditional heterosexual relationships.
A study of literature helps us understand historical context and social reality. Literature, like art, can fill in the blanks of history. What were women doing while men were winning or losing their wars, running countries, and conquering nations? Literature can answer that. Literature can answer questions related to social class and income disparity. What did poor people think about while the aristocracy...
Moreover, literature can reveal the political philosophies that dominated a certain period of time or group of people. Literature can clarify the soul of a collective identity, revealing what a dry historical perspective can never capture. In this way, literature presents the qualitative evidence to history's quantitative data-mongering. Literature can also answer questions about subjective realities. The themes addressed in literature can distinguish one historical era from another too. For instance, the romantic period described the ills of industrialization in ways that reflected the discomfort with urbanization and unbridled scientific exploration.
On a more literal level, literature can help us answer questions about how language and thought evolved over time. The style of narratives have changed dramatically over the centuries. Even within the space of a decade or two, the style and tone of language change. Who gets published, when, and why are also questions that literary critics must ask in their quest for the answers embedded in the text.
