# An Offer of Marriage explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

The narrator envisions a future where an Emancipated Woman, having evolved beyond all worthy partners, laments her solitude and the dilemma of either reverting to an undeveloped species or becoming extinct. A strange, featherless biped—Plato's Man, an Emancipated Rooster—appears and offers himself as a mate, prompting the narrator to withdraw from this vision and compose a satirical poem about the paradoxes of evolution and emancipation.

## Themes in this chapter

### Political Satire

Satirizes the concept of emancipation and evolution, portraying the Emancipated Woman's independence as leading to absurd isolation and a comical mate in the 'Emancipated Rooster.'

### Nature and Artifice

Contrasts natural evolution with artificial constructs of progress, as the 'Plato's Man' rooster is a bizarre, unnatural creation.

## Character check-ins

### Emancipated Woman

Weeps and searches for an 'Expurgated Man,' lamenting her isolation after advancing beyond all potential mates.

### Unknown

The narrator who 'dipt into the future' and observes the Emancipated Woman's plight, then writes the poem.

## Key lines

> Once I 'dipt into the future far as human eye could see,' And saw—it was not Sandow, nor John Sullivan, but she— Emancipated Woman, who was weeping as she ran Here and there for the discovery of Expurgated Man.

The narrator imagines a future where, instead of famous strongmen, he sees an Emancipated Woman crying as she searches for a purified man.

_Opens the poem with a futuristic vision and introduces the central conflict._

> Cried Emancipated Woman, as she wearied of the search: 'In Advancing I have left myself distinctly in the lurch!'

The Emancipated Woman admits that her progress has left her stranded without a suitable partner.

_Highlights the irony of her advanced state causing her isolation._

> I'm Emancipated Rooster, I am Expurgated Fowl!

The strange creature declares itself to be an emancipated and purified rooster, offering itself as a mate.

_Climactic absurdity where the solution to her dilemma is a ridiculous, featherless bird._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/an-offer-of-marriage
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters