in unstable family conditions. Her family was falling apart, and she observed every moment with hushed censure. These repressed feelings can be seen in her poetry. Her unfortunate childhood experiences attribute to a mistrustful, cynical tone in her poem “Marriage I Think.”Smith’s poem “Marriage I Think” contains many references to her belief that the bond of marriage between a man and a woman is fraudulent, particularly for the woman. Her poem reads,Marriage I thinkFor womenIs the best of opiatesIt kills the thoughtsThat think about the thoughts,It is the best of opiates.(lines 1-6)By comparing marriage (for women) to a mind-numbing narcotic, Smith clearly uses a pessimistic tone. She contends that the marital bond, contrary to popular belief, hurts women on the inside. In 1906 4-year-old Smith, her ill mother Ethel, sister Molly, and aunt Margaret are deserted by her father Charles, the main support of the family. Charles grows bored with the marriage, and abruptly sets out on his childhood dream of becoming a naval officer (Sternlicht 4). At this point, Smith’s family of four women, including two children and a sick mother, are left to fend for themselves, with the care of Smith’s aunt. In another one of Smith’s poems entitled “Papa Love Baby,” she writes that she “wished mama hadn’t made such a foolish marriage./…it showed in my eyes unfortunately/And a fortnight later papa ran away to sea” (Barbera and McBrien 9). As she grows up in a predominantly feminine household, Smith dwells on her father’s family desertion. She jokes that “for many, marriage is a chance clutch upon a hen-coop in mid-Atlantic” (Barbera and McBrien 65). The evidence in the poems points to feelings of loneliness and abandonment. Smith also wrote in her poem “Every Lovely Limb’s a Desolation” about women who are caught up in dead-e...
