Similarities and Differences Between Woman Work and Overheard in County Sligo

Similarities and Differences Between Woman Work and Overheard in County Sligo

“Woman Work” is about a very unhappy woman who doesn’t have anything

of her own, she uses the weather to describe how she would like to get

herself away from her mundane life, for example “Storm, blow me from

here with your fiercest wind”. She thinks that the only thing she

can call her own is the different weathers. Whereas in “Overheard in

County Sligo” which is also about a woman, however, this woman is

unhappy for different reasons, she has a nice house, lovely husband

and a good life, but although she has a good life she wants some

stardom in her life and she dreams of something more. An example of

this is “to see my thought on the printed page”. The similarities

between both the poems are that both women want freedom from their

present life. The differences between the two poems are that in “Woman

Work” all she has to comfort her is what nature can provide whereas in

“Overheard in County Sligo” she already has a fine life but she craves

fame. They both want different lives to the ones they are living at

the moment.

The theme of the poem “Woman Work” is that she is a very busy, lonely

woman, probably a slave, who just wants something which she can call

her own even if it is some time to herself. I think the sub-text of

the poem is that all she wants is some happiness and to be able to

rest occasionally in her life because she feels she does the same

routine of work everyday. Evidence of this is in the line “Til I can

rest again.” In “Overheard in County Sligo” the sub-text of the poem

is that although she has a relatively easy life, she has something

missing in her life and it is making her extremely unhappy, not

appreciating the fine things she already has. Evidence of this is “I

ought to feel I’m a happy woman for I lie in he lap of the land.