Daystar By Rita Dove And The Secretary Chant By Marge Piercy

Feminist Literature Draft In many instances, the works of feminist literature use characters to examine and address the issues in the way society treats women. The poems “Daystar” by Rita Dove and “The Secretary Chant” by Marge Piercy do that by focusing on the female identity, more specifically the lack of it their characters are experiencing. By introducing readers to the attitude of the female characters toward their situation, the poems portray daily life from a new perspective that challenged the society’s image of that time. The poem “Daystar” paints the marriage through the sober eyes of a housewife. Her entire day is occupied with housework and taking care of the children, leaving her with only one hour of free time which she spends
quietly observing nature. At night, her husband “lurches” into her and she simply lies awake thinking of the time she spends by herself. Rita Dove begins the poem by stating that her character “wanted a little room for thinking: / but she saw diapers steaming on the line,” (Dove lines 1-2), implying that the housewife’s desires are buried deep under the weight of responsibilities the roles of being a mother and wife bring. The fact that daydreaming is the best part of the housewife’s day shows that she is not satisfied with her current identity of a mother and wants to be something bigger. By depicting the housewife life as monotonous and unfulfilling, the poem challenges the views accepted by a society that considered domestic work as woman’s highest calling and introduces a new perspective that many struggling women of that time could identify with. Written nearly a hundred years later, the poem “The Secretary Chant” introduces readers to another perspective, that of a woman in the workplace. Along with a humorous delivery comes a depressing yet simple message; the female speaker feels dehumanized.