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Margaret Widdemer’s poem « When I Was a Young Girl » from The Old Road to Paradise (1918), which won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, is a nostalgic reflection on youth and the romanticized notions of love and freedom. The poem’s structure, built around a repetitive refrain, creates a musical and rhythmic quality, evoking a sense of lost time while celebrating youthful innocence. Through this refrain, Widdemer emphasizes the cyclical nature of memory, inviting the reader to revisit the joys and aspirations of a young girl whose world was filled with dreams and possibilities.
The central theme explores the contrast between the carefree nature of youth and the societal constraints placed on women. The speaker longs to escape the domestic expectations symbolized by the « sampler » and imagines a more liberated life running « across the bright heather » with the « raggle-taggle gypsies. » The imagery of love is also pivotal, with recurring references to « love in the arbor » and « love in the sky, » symbolizing a natural and pure form of affection tied to youth. Yet, the speaker also acknowledges the fantasies she had of a romantic lover, a « tall cavalier, » only to find that real love came in a more modest and sincere form.
Widdemer’s poem reflects the perspective of a woman looking back at her younger self, blending joy with a tinge of melancholy as the passage of time brings a shift from idealization to acceptance. The speaker’s dreams of freedom and love, while never fully realized in their idealized form, nevertheless brought her contentment in unexpected ways.
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