The speaker is a woman, named Emily in the title, who has been told again and again, by many different men, that she ranks below them. The numbers shrink from 31 to 21 to 11 to 1, as if the poem is counting down to the most intimate voice, a single man who asks her to "give yourself up completely" and "be me." Then the count jumps back to 31, so her lover's demand turns out to be the same message as everyone else's.
The mood is angry, tired, and bitterly sarcastic. The language gets harsh in places, with insults and commands to kneel, and the rhymes ("fight," "right," "fast") feel like chanting or pounding. The final shift from "he" to "we" is chilling: the men speak as one group, closing ranks. Ending on the broken line "first / come we" leaves the speaker's own voice missing, which seems to be the point. The poem makes you feel how wearing it is to hear the same rule repeated everywhere.