The poem “The Secretary Chant” uses metaphors to describe how inhuman a secretary feels in the workplace. By comparing their body parts to inanimate objects such as “My hips are a desk” (Piercy 1) and “My head is a badly organized file” (8) the narrator relates themselves to the responsibilities of a secretary. Their job became their identity.…
There is lots of good open relationships, but there are also bad ones due to our society supposedly. In Perry Patetic claim, he argues that bad relationships come from are fast moving society. The author supports his statement by first saying that you have a fast moving society equipped with cars, trains and planes. He continues by saying it would be easy to move, the author's purpose is to convince the audience to stay in the same location in order so that we can have a close, supportive relationship that people in former generations enjoyed. The author sets up a convincing tone for the audience.…
Stanford and University of California alumni Sandra Lim reads from The Wilderness on April 7, 2015, at Prairie Lights. As an alumna from the International Writing Program Lim was making her return back to Iowa City after 11 years. In The Wilderness Lim reads a collection of poems about love, spring and one poem that caught my attention was about the individual struggle of one's body within one’s mind. The poems are open to many interpretations but that is the way that I chose to interpret that poetry in particular. The interesting thing about Lim’s poem is how describes the body parts in some of her poems. It is very vague. It almost makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable but at the same time, I really like her style. The way she describes…
Certainly, one of the goblins’ treachery effects is the loss of the notion of time for Lizzie (V.449) and it previously happened to Laura (V.139). Despite having being attacked by wicked creatures, Lizzie walks home happily. The bouncing of the coin is like a victorious hymn for her, the proof that she has confronted and overcome temptation. She conserves her kind heart and thus her purity and vitality, which make her run home.…
On brisk September mornings, civilian residences often answer the door to a military officer whom bears bad news about their sons. During the reconstruction, the sex ratio is off balance and many women do not have a full grasp on why they are lonely. In “War is Kind” by the famous poet Stephen Crane; he adopts sarcastic diction and syntax to display war as a destructive force.…
Speech has always been important; yet being judged by how to speak on a daily basis is what many go through. Not everyone speaks the same, which is why each person is unique. The author Allison Joseph of the poem “On Being Told I Don’t Speak Like a Black Person,” has an precise frame of mind on how people believe that all black people speak differently than others. There is not a certain language that people should speak; it is passed down or learned while growing up. Allison states in the texts “Now I realize there’s nothing more personal than speech that I don’t have to defend how I speak, how any person, black, white, chooses to speak. Let us speak, let us talk.” The poem has a strong meaning and presents the meaning in an admirable way.…
Weapons Training by Bruce Dawe shows us the realities of war. It is a drill sergeant speaking to his new recruits. The poem starts in the middle of a sentence, giving the impression that we might have fallen asleep like one of the young recruits being shouted at. It serves to catch our attention. Note the use of spaces and pauses: these show a dramatic monologue, because they are natural spaces to take breath. Dramatic monologues give insight into the speaker, their situation, and the people around the speaker and their reactions. "Pitter-patter" is normally a gentle sound, but in this situation it is made to sound harsh. "Are you a queer?" This question reflects the tone of the whole poem: to be called a "queer" is clearly insulting to these men. Also is the start of a whole string of insults littered through the monologue, delivered in a blunt, confronting tone. The poem is full of crude sexual references: "Cockpit drill" and "crown jewels", for example. "Mob of the little yellows" - the sergeant dehumanises the enemy by making a racist comment, making it easier for the soldiers to kill them (if they're not really people, it doesn't matter if they die). "Turning the key in the ignition", apart from being a reference to sex, serves to give the soldiers hope by reminding them of coming back home. They are conscript soldiers and not used to the strict discipline of the Army; the sergeant must show his authority to impress into them the necessity of listening to him: it's the only hope they've got of staying alive. He drops back into dramatic monologue, using "you" all the way because in the end it will be up to the individual soldiers to determine what happens to them. "Charlies" is a racist name given to the Viet Cong. At every opportunity he degrades the enemy: "rotten fish-sauce breath" Dawe shows the realities of war: "alive one moment, dead the next". "too late ... your tripes are round your neck ...…
Although the tone in the poem is often light-hearted, the author, Anne Bradstreet, is very critical of those who restrict women's roles. This is because women can do much more than sew and cook. The speaker is a writer, an avid reader, and well-educated. She's ready to go to war with those who attack her, but is also gracious enough to let things go once she's made…
Randall Jarrell, poet, critic, essayist, and former Poet Laureate of the United States, was born in 1914 in Nashville Tennessee and attended Vanderbilt University in that same city. There, Jarrell received his BA and MA studying under John Crowe Ransom and Robert Penn Warren. His poetry is influenced by W.H. Auden and Robert Frost and often uses what poets call “the common dialogue of Americans.” He passed away October 14th, 1965.…
The major theme in the poem is male chauvinism in the work place. The people in charge of the workplace in this particular poem are men and the women are definite underlings in comparison to them. The men are described as the alpha dogs while the women are “silly little hens”. The men described in the poem are not seen at all in a good like one is described seducing female workers “Here comes another alpha male--a man's man, a dealmaker, holds tanks of liquor, charms them pants less at lunch:” Even with all the negative light it is clear that in this workplace the men have the power and the women have to comply and agree to what the men say unless they wish for unemployment. The speaker in this poem tells the poem in a tone of someone who has had it with the alpha male dominance in her work place and wants badly to get out of there. It can be best summed up with “Well I think I'm through with the working world, through with warming eggs and being Zenlike in my detachment from all things Ego.”…
“The Secretary Chant,” by Marge Piercy is about a female creating a vision of how she has lost her personal identity to her job. She uses metaphors to allow the reader to envision a woman who is living her life through her career. Piercy also uses paradox, personification, and the pun to bring the character alive. With the use of metaphors, both implied and explicit, the reader can deeply empathize the central character of this poem.…
Do you need something explosive as a treat or snack for a 4th of July party? A tasty snack that does not have a lot of harmful ingredients is licorice. This means you have a simple way to make something for a fun snack like dynamite party favors.…
The word great has many meanings – outstanding, eminent, grand, important, extraordinary, noble, etc. - and varies along with the intent of the speaker and on the interpretation of the hearer. Someone may perceive something as great, and yet someone else may see that same thing as horrendous. The greatness of a being is not determined by themselves, but by those around them who experience, and perceive, their greatness through actions and words. In the book, “The Great Gatsby”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is the narrator, Nick, who judges Gatsby as a great person with a “gorgeous” personality. It is his way of perceiving Gatsby that leads us to also find him “great”. Gatsby, through his actions, his dreams and…
“Anger is a basic human emotion that is experienced by all people” (Mills, 2005). It is a natural response that is triggered when someone feels hurt or mistreated. Although, it is not just a clear-cut emotion that consists of one general feeling that is the same for everyone. The levels of anger that a person feels may not always be identical and there are varying degrees of responses that someone can express when they are experiencing this sentiment. How often a person gets angry, how intensely they feel this emotion, and how long it lasts varies for every individual. This results in a range of intensity of the anger that they express. How a person decides to handle this emotional signal can be a decisive factor as to any consequential effects…
Carolyn Forche’s “The Colonel” written in 1978 depicts a disturbing dinner party that reflects the animosity between the U.S and El Salvador during El Salvador’s civil war. It is based on a true story. The colonel is the poem violently disagrees with the human rights policies put in place by the American president. He takes his frustrations out on his guests by intimidating them with trophies from his victims. Forche’s nontraditional style and politically charge in “The Colonel” emphasize the power poetry has against fear.…