The Venus Hottentot

The poem’s title alludes to the classical Venus, the Roman goddess associated with love, beauty, sex and desire, and fertility. Yet this more complimentary allusion is paired with the pejorative racial term “Hottentot.” While the term was initially used to describe a person from Khoikhoi, an indigenous group in south Africa, it soon became a word comparable to barbarian or savage. This title, thus, contrasts the ideal of Classical, white beauty with the perceived primitiveness of the title woman. In addition, in wider scholarship, the term typically has the reverse word order, with hottentot describing Venus to suggest a diminished beauty. Here, Alexander has reversed the order, so the unnamed woman is beautiful because of her Africanness.

The first part of the poem begins with the speaker’s name. Cuvier refers to the 19th century French naturalist and zoologist Georges Cuvier, who collected Baartman’s genitalia as a scientific specimen upon her death. This first section is written in Cuvier’s voice, describing his enthusiasm for the scientific process. Cuvier’s exclamation of “Science, science, science!” (Line 1) suggests that this poem will be about scientific progress, with the optimism that “[e]verything is beautiful” (Line 2).

Yet the stanza break draws attention to the phrase “blown up” (Line 3).