Though all of Felicia Hemans' poetry assigned contains the immortalizing of women, The Effigies pulled at me the most. Her connection between the Warrior and the Woman, and how they were each immortalized is what pulled at me the most.
The Warrior is immortalized not just by his tomb, not by his name, but through his heroic acts. Everything else about him has been lost to time, but the heroic story of what he done can be traced back to him. His tomb is just another dedication to his acts as the Warrior.
The Woman, however, her heroic deeds are not immortalized with the tomb, but her place by the Warrior side. We do not know her story, but the poem assumes that her place beside the Warrior was full of grief. While the Warrior lives through a tale of victory, her tale can only be a tale of woe unable to stand against the test time. We remember these great Warriors that fight heroic battles, but the women who stand beside them sacrifice not their lives, but their hearts, their stories fade and only the Warrior's acts remain. No songs are sung about them. When their name fades from history. their acts of love and sacrifice are not immortalized. Their tomb beside the Warrior's is the only tribute to them and it is a tribute to their place beside the Warrior. The Effigies does not tell you the story of the Warrior, it tells the story of the Woman and gives her the praise history chose to forget.
I think the way Hemans discusses women in her poetry is really interesting, especially when compared to the other poetry we have read this semester. This isn't slightly sarcastic like Barbauld's poem, but seems like a serious and genuine attempt to immortalize and/or honor women. Your point that the Warrior is remembered because of his participation in manly acts, like heroic battles and victory, while the widow's life isn't honored in the same way is interesting. It made me think of how we still do things similar to this today when discussing women's history. Generally, the best sellers in nonfiction about women are about the women who defied society's gender roles at the time in some way or women who were from a royal background. The lives of average women, like the widow, are not as popular or celebrated.
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