The poem advocates for two key ideas: recognizing women's contributions to art and history, and increasing their involvement in public life beyond domestic roles. Throughout the poem, the speaker mourns how little women's lives have changed since ancient times, as mentioned in the first stanza. Boland highlights that women have been too consumed with daily household tasks like buying bread, doing laundry, and making soup to engage in public activities that might be recorded in history. Though she admits in stanza 8 that confining women to domestic duties has sometimes spared them from the more brutal aspects of history, she strongly criticizes this situation, comparing it to a moth being fatally drawn to a flame. In stanza 11, Boland laments that women's history and their frustration over being excluded have been overlooked by music and other art forms, expressing this sentiment with the lines, “And still no page / scores the low music / of our outrage.”

With its ironic title, the poem highlights the exclusion of women from public life and advocates for change. The speaker points out that although technological advancements have benefited society, women's circumstances have remained largely unchanged. Through the use of rhyme to underscore her straightforward assertions, Boland mourns the absence of women in public spheres. By crafting this poem, she aims to reveal how women have been overlooked in history—particularly in Irish history, with its struggle for independence from Britain—and strives to correct this narrative by ensuring women are acknowledged in historical records.

In much of the poem, the narrator highlights that the roles and lives of women have "hardly changed / since a wheel first / whetted a knife." She asserts that from the beginning of civilization, women have shouldered the majority of domestic responsibilities, leaving little opportunity for more prestigious pursuits like "star-gazing," symbolizing creative endeavors, or "fire-eating," representing political upheaval. The speaker underscores the seemingly unchangeable nature of this reality, repeating "never" twice and noting that the same fate awaits "our [female] children." However, by crafting this poem about women's labor, Boland diverges from the traditional tendency to overlook women's societal contributions, bringing their actions and frustrations to light in her work. Furthermore, Boland repeatedly uses the symbol of fire throughout the poem, which, with its transformative qualities, signifies profound and sweeping change.

The poem's tone is one of anger right from the title. The speaker repeatedly highlights how women have been relegated to household duties and excluded from other areas of life. The mention of a knife in the opening stanza suggests the deep-seated anger this unfair situation has created, and this sense of anger intensifies as the poem advances. In the eleventh stanza, Boland explicitly states, “And still no page / scores the low music / of our outrage.” The perfect rhyme of “page” and “outrage” emphasizes a strong feeling of dissatisfaction and frustration. Furthermore, the word “low” adds to the self-deprecating, angry tone by alluding to “lowing,” the sound made by a cow. Boland seems to imply that although women have kept their outrage quiet, their emotions are simmering beneath the surface.