In the rush of our modern mechanized lives, we often overlook the quieter struggles amidst the glass towers that rise tall and the constant buzzing of car engines on the streets of large cities like Dhaka and Chittagong.
The struggles are not only of economy or infrastructure, but of one’s identity that is on the verge of being lost. Gender roles still dictate who gets to speak and who is to be left unheard.
Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated nations in the world, still negotiates about gender roles, especially in the rural and conservative communities.
The American poet, Hilda Doolittle, despite being across oceans and generations, continues to be relevant to that of Bangladeshi society.
Her poems offer an emotional ground for those women who are struggling to find a voice of their own, apart from the many obstacles they face on a daily basis.
She embraced the form of crafting literary technique through crisp imagery and emotions that contradicted the traditional poetic structure of metrical verses. Her defiance of following the traditional structure is also a reflection of Hilda's frustration over societal expectations.
Despite Hilda's close association with her contemporaries such as Ezra Pound, she remained unnoticed, which mirrors the struggle that many women in Bangladesh often face: close proximity to influence others but without access to power.
Moreover, Hilda incorporated the concepts of psychological turmoil, isolation, and fragmentation that are strikingly familiar with those of the feminine society of Bangladesh.
Industrialization and erasure
Bangladesh observed socio-economic transformations like those in the West, where women were subjected to staying within the controlled realms set by the patriarchy, from the British colonial period to post-independence industrialization.
Even with the extensive growth and discoveries in the fields of science, technology, and infrastructure, women are left on the sidelines as men have mostly taken over the public sphere.
Even though the late 19th century was a period with a booming economy and essential discoveries, the lives of women did not change much. The feminine voices in the fields of literature, science, and leadership continued to be strangled by the deep-seated patriarchal ideologies.
The literary history of Bangladesh has been dominated by males for a long time, ranging from Jasimuddin, Shamsur Rahman, and Humayun Ahmed. As a result, the women could not have much space for crafting their creativity in accordance with their own choice.
Crevices in the psyche
Hilda’s poem ‘Mid-Day’ reflects her internal psychological turmoil and articulates the extent of exclusion. The fragmented syntax of the poem resembles a mind that is torn between desires and societal expectations.
In a society that values connections more than merit, Hilda yearns for assistance from her mentors- Ezra Pound and Thomas Stearns Eliot, the community that was never able to understand and acknowledge her.
Hilda inspects the societal structure through the verses of her poems and forms the blueprints of how structural gender inequality does not necessarily allow creative voices to be heard.
The garden as a cage
On the other hand, Hilda’s poem ‘The Garden’ casts a stark image of a woman who is exasperated as her wishes remain unfulfilled.
The poem gives a voice for those women in Bangladesh, especially in the rural belt, who desire to break free from imposed roles and want to speak to society without any constraints.
It is not just resilience, but the cost of enduring that a large number of women go through. A concept that frequently overlooks the root causes of this systemic failure.
Between the lines
The gendered bias felt by Hilda is not unfamiliar in Bangladesh, as women in journalism, academia, science, and literature are celebrated as exceptions rather than considered as changemakers of societal norms.
Hilda Doolittle, despite speaking of the Western female experience, is now relevant throughout the world, especially in Bangladesh, where a large number of women are still struggling to tell their own stories.
