Margaret Cavendish – “A World in an Earring”

This poem uses extended metaphors to get across the message that there may be many worlds beyond the one that we’re on, and, beyond that, that what is not visible to the human eye or tools of knowledge cannot be assumed. Cavendish explores the idea that the world, with its sun, planets, and surrounding stars, is contained within an earring on a woman’s ear. This world contains everything our world does, fish, poles, gardens, plagues, cities, life and death, etc. But all of these events pass the wearer of the earring by and she remains oblivious. The wearer of the earring is not the creator, and heaven and “Elysium” still exist, which indicates that there is a God, but that our understanding of the universe is focused too narrowly.

This poem speaks to gender issues and has a quasi-feminist argument, although its more of a matriarchal powertrip than a leveling equality that true feminism would have.

Some of the things that interest me are her mentioning diamonds, golden mines, spices, earthquakes, and plagues as they relate to my attempt at locating an ecocritical argument in the 17^th century.