Stranglehold on the Heart:What 19th Century Music Reveals About Gender Roles

Thad KanuppDr. OlsenENG-111

9 October, 2007Tusculum College

Gender Roles in the 1800sIn the 19th century, women were subject to what Barbara Welter referred to as

“the cult of true womanhood,” with all true women being pious, pure, submissive, and domestic (Wheeler & Becker 136). They were expected to be

religious, sexually ignorant, subservient housewives and little, if any, more. Men were regarded almost exclusively as being the bread-winners, dominant

over women in everything that was not considered solely feminine.

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Godey’s Lady’s BookThe Musical Quarterly says that in the antebellum United States, Godey’s

Lady’s Book, a women’s magazine published by Louis Godey, had the largest readership of any magazine in the country (103). Through his magazine,

Godey promoted the “ideal woman,” for which a propensity for music seems to nearly be essential (Koza 103-4). One need only compare the

amount of music to be found in any issue of Godey’s, which sported at least one piece of sheet music per month (Koza 103), to its male-targeted

counterpart, The Atlantic Monthly, which was virtually devoid of music (though it did contain occasional poems). The songs published in Godey’s

were almost exclusively of the romantic sort, with male narrators frequently lamenting lost loves, or declaring their devotion for new ones. In fact, for

the rock-hearted, domineering men we usually associate with the 19th century, the lyrics of these songs are surprisingly heartfelt, and bear a

significant resemblance to love songs of more modern conception. While the men of two centuries ago undoubtedly had a firm grip on society as a whole, it seems women have always had a stranglehold on their hearts .

Saw You Not the Rising Tear

Saw you not the rising tear,Swell in her full dark eye,Mark’d you not the timid fear,The low the sad reply;Did the sigh unheeded fall,The blush unnotic’d bloom,

Can you no fond look recall,No smile which chas’d the gloom. It is love which crept unknown,Into her youthful breast;All her former pleasure’s flown,Her soul is robb’d of rest:Could she

Could she but have felt for me,The love which now is thine,Nought on earth I’d envy thee;For her I’d all resign,Nought on earth I’d envy thee;For her I’d all resign.

 For her love I’d cross the main,And brave the stormy sea,From her lips a smile to gain,What would be fear’d by me?What to me a burning sky,Or wint’ry cold and snow?If she did but wish I’d fly,Tho’ from her I must go. But for me, how vain the thought,Such bliss can ne’er be mine,Love from me she never sought,She seeks no heart but thine;Oh to her may Heaven sendIts blessings from above,I will seem to her a friend,None else I’ll ever love.

Analysis and Comparisons“Saw You Not the Rising Tear” is the lament of a woman’s friend to her new lover.

Though the narrator and the woman in question are likely good friends, she has chosen another over him. It is a theme repeated many times in modern music,

though rarely so poetically. The opening lines of Blink-182’s “Please Take Me Home” are an example of this: “Oh no, it happened again / she’s cool, she’s hot, she’s my friend.” The narrator claims that he would be willing to brave anything

for his lady, much like the narrator in Coheed and Cambria’s “Wake Up,” who says that he would “do anything you want me to, for you,” or the self-explanatory title

of Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You into the Dark.” The devout love expressed by the man in “Saw You Not…” seems out of place in the 19th century we

are used to, when we assume marriages to have been determined as much by class and wealth as any other factor. Equally out of place is the finality of the

woman’s choice in the song during a time she should not, according to popular belief, have had much say in the matter.

There Was a Time

There was a time when in a tranceMy very soul seem’d bound,When Love caught from the star-light glance,Turn’d earth to fairy ground.When

hours flew by on rosy wings,We did not woo their stayNor weep their loss, for brighter thingsCame ev’ry new born day There was a time, the timid blush,The low sweet faltering tone,The gentle eyes, the tears’ soft gushThat flowed for me alone;The smile of welcome when I came,The sigh to see me part,All outward tokens told my nameWas written on thy heart. There was a time, thou wert to meAs dew is to the flower;As moonlight to the summer sea,As fragrance to the bower;Those dreamy times are over now,So cold, so changed thou art!And clouds have gathered on my brow,And shadows on my heart!

Analysis and Comparisons“There Was a Time” is an opera that proves that breakup songs are a significantly

older than what we might think. The entire song relates a paradisiacal relationship between two lovers before, in the last four lines, the woman turns hostile and

remote for no apparent reason. To use a Peanuts metaphor, the man narrating has been effectively “Charlie Browned” by his “Lucy.” In fact, he seems entirely

helpless, even whiney, about his lack of control over what, at the time, might have been considered a “misbehaving” woman for him to have dealt with accordingly.

Both the woman’s hostility and the man’s helplessness bear a notable resemblance Cauterize’s “Something Beautiful” (“You’re so sick of me so you just can't stick

around to hear me pleading /…I’m pathetic, I know”), seem the direct opposite of what would have been appropriate for the time period.

http://www.waswatching.com/archives/LucyFootball.jpg

ConclusionsWe have come a long way in the last 164 years. Gender roles in particular have changed dramatically. Many women hold

positions of considerable power in business and government, while the concept of stay-at-home dads is widely accepted.

When it comes to romantic relationships, however, an examination of period music reveals that not so much is

different. As indicated by musical examples in Godey’s and more modern works, the romantic playing field has been

relatively level when compared with other aspects of gender relations, if not tilted in women’s favor. This has held true

since at least the 1840s, and will continue to do so for as long as a “star-light glance” can turn “earth to fairy ground.”

Works CitedCalifornia Digital Library. Untitled image of 19th century woman. 7 Oct. 2007.

<http://www.content.cdlib.org./>.

Koza, Julia. "Music and the Feminine Sphere: Images of Women as Musicians in "Godey's Lady's Book", 1830-1877." The Musical Quarterly Vol.75 (Summer 1991): 103-29. JSTOR. Tusculum College Library, Greeneville, TN. <http://www.jstor.org> Article: <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0027-4631%28199122%2975%3A2%3C103%3AMATFSI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N>

Waswatcing.com. “Lucy Football.” 9 Oct. 2007. <http://www.waswatching.com./>.

Wheeler, William, and Susan Becker. Discovering the American Past: A Look at Evidence. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.