orture women; the ways they can assault the female core of women that contradicts the belief infused into women during their upbringing that these are the very things that women should save for men to protect: "Sweet Remember that Marta Diaz de C. had her legs spread on an electric bed as someone probed with great delight to see her scream till dead."
In the final section of the poem, the poet declares that she will not raise her female children to rely on men's protection: "But I will teach her quite instead that she is her own brave life . . . and that she owns her strong brave life till dead."
In "A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning," the poet compares the love between himself and his partner to the feelings mortals have for the workings of the celestial world. He begins the poem by describing what their love should not be like, namely the mere "mortal" love of one human for another that cannot survive should one-half of the relationship be removed: "Dull sub
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