She called for the establishment of a spiritual and intellectual retreat for unmarried women and widows, which would give them freedom to study away from male society. The first line addresses women, but the whole poem is ultimately addressed to men. Sets stage-states state of affairs of education 2. The discord in poem equals the discord Thomas feels about the state of women's education. Thomas is the one being sarcastic.
Women are unhappy with the state of affairs.
The tone is very sarcastic. Sarcasm masks the intense anger the speaker feels towards the patriarchy. Sarcasm is more socially acceptable than straight-out ranting. The poet is building up men in this stanza only to knock them down later. In this stanza, the poet continues her argument for female education.