The Farrier is a poem which shows the growing intimacy between a horse we know is female, and a male farrier-for this reason we use the horse as a representation of all females. Marking Time is a poem which describes a vigorous love making session between a man and woman in a retrospective nature. Both of these poems have underlying themes of treatment of women and sexual connection. In The Farrier we are lead to feel sympathy for the horse (female) because of the treatment she receives from the male, for example semantic fields around violence lead us to believe the horse is enduring pain in order to look physically presentable and this therefore leads us to believe that this poem is making a comment on the violent and dominating nature of men being harmful and offensive to women in society. We see these semantic fields in “branded”,”excavating”,”weights”-showing the forceful language used in terms of the horses treatment as well as “filling at her sole”. The word “sole” could however be a pun on both her physical sole and her internal soul- and how males file away at this in society.
Furthermore, In The Farrier, we see a chronological structure that also reinforces the male domination in the poem. The female is “led” to the male, the moment of intimacy is controlled by the male, and finally the dismissal of the female by the male-“he gives her a slap and watches her leave”- this all contributes to the unfair treatment of males on females. Similarly we see this theme of the destructiveness of men in Marking Time, this is by the fact the woman is left scarred from their sexual experience, much like the horse who is “branded”- these permanent marks are an indication that these poems could be commenting on the patriarchal inequality where man is seen as superior and because of this treat women as lesser humans hence why they can physically damage them at will. Furthermore we see semantic fields of violence in this poem also-“two tattered flags”, the word “tattered” immediately gives off the impression of worn out and abused- which could reflect the treatment of women.
Another recurring theme that these two poems have in common is the sexual connection between man and woman. In The Farrier, we see alliteration to reinstate the intimacy between the horse and farrier- “a romantic lead dropping to the lips of his lover” this romantic imagery is clearly showing a lustrous enigma surrounding the couple. This is what we see in Marking Time, where it says “We worked up that scar”-the use of the inclusive pronoun “we” suggests unity between the pair, reinforcing the intimacy and sexual connection that is described in this poem. To conclude, I think it is clear that there are two main themes that correspond between the both poems. These are sexual connection and the treatment of women, this is through the male dominance in both poems and the way the females are left (scarred and dismisses). This could be a comment on the treatment of women in society in general, as it is clear all through history that women are treated unfairly. Male dominance in these poems could be argued to be a patriarchal theme that also appears in Inheritance.
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