Louise Bogan was an American poet who published her first book of poetry, Body of This Death: Poems, in 1923. This poem reveals women's issues by depicting women as confined to the "hot cell of their hearts" and unable to experience the wilderness, nature, or freedom that men can. The poem suggests that women wait when they should take journeys, stiffen when they should bend, and do not live fully due to being too cautious or indulgent in their love and lives.