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Essay / The Feminist Struggle Described in A Brief History of the Horse Lorna Crozier's poem, "A Brief History of the Horse," offers many different interpretations. However, the structure of the poem is broken down into three stages: past, present and future. By examining the archetypes contained in the poem, it can be suggested that the horse represents the feminist struggle, the ongoing battle for women to have an equal place in society. In explaining "A Brief History of the Horse", it is essential It is important to examine the logopoeia (level of thought) of the poem. The archetype of the horse suggests the feminist aspect of the poem. To explain, the horse, as a Jungian archetype, represents motherhood and the magical side of man. What Jung calls “the mother who is in us all, or intuitiveness, and which resides in the subconscious” (Cirlot, 151). In Crozier's poem, the reference to the subconscious is very apparent from the first stanza or scene; the horse grazes in the “sleeping pastures”. A grazing horse is also a symbol of freedom and peace (Oderr, 69); however, this freedom can only be obtained in sleep. The mother figure is also represented by the fact that the soldiers are inside the horse. They are in the horse's belly: "the soldiers feel the swing of the horse's belly as it runs at night across the meadows" (260). This involves the concept of a fetus in the womb. However, the men (the soldiers) are unaware of the horse's outside world, believing they are in "a ship's hold that smells of grass and oblivion" (260). Thus, the idea that the horse grazes in a pasture of green grass (peace), but the men (soldiers) are unable to see the truth. They don't know what problems the horse is actually facing. The soldier... middle of paper...... uh, no matter how much the horse is suppressed, he will eventually do what he wants to do. Whatever the label assigned to the feminist struggle, it is inevitable that women have an equal place with men in society. The horse will eventually graze "calmly in the meadow", and there will come a time when men and women will be equal. In conclusion, the poem moves from the basic history or repression of the horse to the prospects for the future. The horse is an archetype of the mother, of the feminist fight. Therefore, the poem becomes a history of the feminist struggle, from its birth in ancient times, to the ignorance of current times, and will eventually end. There is no doubt that women will eventually have an equal place in society. The poet is adamant that women will become equal to men. The feminist movement cannot be suppressed.
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