Piercy Billy Collins Analysis

The underlying subtext of the poem is apparent through the successful use of literary devices which entice the reader’s attention. Throughout history, poets have continuously proven that words are the window to the depths of the soul via a mass release of internal expression. Their ability to ignite a spark in all those who invite its entrance into their lives sets them on an inimitable level, far from the ordinary class of literature. The tools to which this level of understanding can be reached are the numerous literary devices imbedded into the verses of a poem. These tools help the reader deduce the indirect meaning delicately laced in between the lines of a poem where it would normally be indiscernible to the naked eye. When the underlying
The speaker is comparing the hopelessness she feels from catering to her husband’s every whim to the abstract association of a barbecue clinker pushing against her. Near the height of the speaker’s anger in the poem, she states that, “Carbonized despair presses like a clinker/ from a barbecue against the back of her eyes” (Piercy 11-12). These two lines serve to illustrate the negative stigma surrounding the unequal power balance often found in opposite sex relationships, usually due to pre-existing stereotypes of what a woman is capable of accomplishing compared to a man. After a lifetime of belief in the inherent superiority of males, it is easy to understand why the speaker constantly feels oppressed. Furthermore, with the knowledge of the denotation of the word, “clinker” as a mass of fireproof material fused together in the process of burning coal, it is evident why Piercy decided on this comparison. She is endeavoring to elevate the misery of the speaker’s emotional response in order to portray the severity in which the patriarchal system has marginalized her. When the speaker compares her despair to a clinker pressing against the backs of her eyes, she is trying to communicate that her hopelessness at her dilemma has blinded her in a cloud of carbon smoke through which it is difficult to discern between what is right or wrong. She understands that she must be the image of feminine desirability because the men of her time only lusted after women who had perfectly captured their unrealistic standards of these appeals, but she is tired of looking picturesque and without real value. The fury the speaker is feeling in this moment seems an almost palpable entity, alive in ferocity of the unfairness of her situation. From these two lines, it is gained that she is lost in barely