God save each female's right,
Show to her ravish'd sight
Woman is free;
Let Freedom's voice prevail
And draw aside the vail,
Supreme Effulgence hail,
Sweet Liberty.
Man boasts the noble cause,
Nor yields supine to laws
Tyrants ordain;
Let woman have a share,
Nor yield to slavish fear,
Her equal rights declare,
And well maintain.
Come forth with sense array'd,
Nor ever be dismay'd
To meet the foe;
Who with assuming hands
Inflict the iron bands,
To obey his rash commands,
And vainly bow.
O Let the sacred fire
Of Freedom's voice inspire
A Female too;
Man makes the cause his own,
And Fame his acts renown,
Woman thy fears disown,
Assert thy due.
Think of the cruel chain,
Endure no more the pain
Of slavery;
Why should a tyrant bind
A cultivated mind
By Reason well refin'd
Ordained Free.
Why should a Woman lie
In base obscurity,
Her talents hid,
Has providence assign'd
Her soul to be confin'd;
Is not her gentle mind
By virtue led?
Let snarling cynics frown,
Their maxims I disown,
Their ways detest;
By man, your tyrant lord,
Females no more be aw'd.
Let Freedom's sacred word,
Inspire your breast.
Woman aloud rejoice,
Exalt thy feeble voice
In chearful strain;
See Wollstonecraft, a friend,
Your injur'd rights defend,
Wisdom her steps attend,
The cause maintain.
Show to her ravish'd sight
Woman is free;
Let Freedom's voice prevail
And draw aside the vail,
Supreme Effulgence hail,
Sweet Liberty.
Man boasts the noble cause,
Nor yields supine to laws
Tyrants ordain;
Let woman have a share,
Nor yield to slavish fear,
Her equal rights declare,
And well maintain.
Come forth with sense array'd,
Nor ever be dismay'd
To meet the foe;
Who with assuming hands
Inflict the iron bands,
To obey his rash commands,
And vainly bow.
O Let the sacred fire
Of Freedom's voice inspire
A Female too;
Man makes the cause his own,
And Fame his acts renown,
Woman thy fears disown,
Assert thy due.
Think of the cruel chain,
Endure no more the pain
Of slavery;
Why should a tyrant bind
A cultivated mind
By Reason well refin'd
Ordained Free.
Why should a Woman lie
In base obscurity,
Her talents hid,
Has providence assign'd
Her soul to be confin'd;
Is not her gentle mind
By virtue led?
Let snarling cynics frown,
Their maxims I disown,
Their ways detest;
By man, your tyrant lord,
Females no more be aw'd.
Let Freedom's sacred word,
Inspire your breast.
Woman aloud rejoice,
Exalt thy feeble voice
In chearful strain;
See Wollstonecraft, a friend,
Your injur'd rights defend,
Wisdom her steps attend,
The cause maintain.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2015/5/28 - 09:23
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Versi di anonima autrice che sul settimanale Philadelphia Minerva, il giornale su cui la poesia fu pubblicata nel 1795, si firmava “A Lady”
Sull’aria di “God Save The King”
Il testo fu ispirato al volume “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” di Mary Wollstonecroft (1759-1797), scrittrice, filosofa e femminista britannica che fu anche testimone della Rivoluzione francese.
Sulla figura di Mary Wollstonecroft si legga “Mary Wollstonecraft, Tempo di rivoluzioni. Sui diritti degli uomini e delle donne”, raccolta a cura di Claudia Baldoli e Giannarosa Vivian, Edizioni Spartaco 2004. Su A-Rivista Anarchica se ne può leggere un estratto, “Estranea ai suoi tempi”, un profilo della Wollstonecroft fatto da Emma Goldman.