Humanities Brown Bag Seminar

In "A Dialogue between an Oake, and a Man cutting him downe" (1653), Margaret Cavendish primes readers to expect an answer to the question that animates her poem: will the woodcutter fell the tree or yield to its plea for life? The outcome turns out to be ambiguous—as indicated by the differing claims that scholars have made about the ending. While some conclude that the Man cuts down the tree, others assert that he is persuaded to let the Oak stand. These contrary interpretations both find support in the poem, yet Cavendish allows neither to triumph. Instead, she insists on irresolution, as she makes a meta-critique of claims that compete for exclusive authority as the source of knowledge about nature.