Poetry Analysis: A work of Artifice (2302 hits)
Category: Quotes & Stories -> PoetryRating: -0.39 on 19 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by <President.W.Fresh.at.gmail.com> (View user info) at 2007-01-08 15:07:30 EST
The following is a poetry analysis I wrote for my British Literature class and I was hoping for some feedback. I know I'm new, which makes me more likely to receive bad reviews, but please don't just -2 my post because of that or because you don't like the poem. I'm just looking for writing pointers for the future. If you have never read "A Work of Artifice", here's a link to it http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-work-of-artifice/
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It takes two to tango, as they say, and Marge Piercy identifies the two culprits of female oppression in her poem,"A Work of Artifice." Throughout the poem, Marge Piercy makes stellar use of simile to compare women to bonsai trees. She also alludes to the plight of Chinese women and the stunted intellectual development of females across the globe.
Piercy is cunning in the sense that she doesn't let you know her intentions until half way through the poem. In the beginning she nonchalantly describes a quaint scene of a little bonsai tree in a little pot. She begins to let her intentions be known as she describes the tree's tender as a male. To some this may not seem as odd, but when one examines social stereotypical of genders, one can see that a man will not usually be seen tending to a bonsai tree. Then, Piercy describes the male gardener crooning as he trims and "whittles back the branches" of a tree that could have "grown eighty feet tall." The gardener represents the male race as a whole, whittling away the potential of women and softly crooning them (which was a genre of love music which embraced machismo and man dominated ideals, made popular by men like Frank Sinatra, a man who embodied the ideals of conservative ideas) while he does it.
For the less astute reader,Piercy shortly thereafter uses words like "domestic" and "weak" to capture the reader's attention to what she is talking about. Piercy continues by briefly alluding to the lives of Chinese women. She mentions "the bound feet" which is a reference to the brutal practice of foot binding in China, where a woman would have her feet bound devices to make her feet small and thus more attractive to men. To be desired by men was paramount to a women's existence then, because if she was not desirable she could not marry and if she couldn't marry then her life was of little use. By making use of those three words speaks of the tortures Chinese women have endured and also the feeling women feel in today's society to be desired. Women feel spiritually "bound" because they must be desired and pretty.
Piercy continues to address the effects of the "spiritual binding" by saying how the tree has a "crippled brain" and that its growth is dwarfed. The meaning of these lines is to say that women's intellectual cultivation has been stunted, dwarfed by the image and the "cult of domesticity." The women's brain has been crippled by society's conception of beauty and gender roles. Women should be seen, not heard. A women should stay at home and raise the children. A women should not grow to the heights that men grow. A women should be pruned and whittled, whittled into a nice little pot.
The purpose is not just to bemoan the plight of women, but to also wave a finger at woman kind as well. Piecry makes allusions to the happy house wife mind set. "How lucky, little tree, to have a pot to grow in." Piercy is effectively speaking of the wife whose mind set is how lucky she is to have a man to restrict her movements. How lucky she is, to be bound. In the end she further elaborates by directly pointing the finger by saying "the hand that you love to touch." She is saying that women are just as responsible for this position. By obeying and by peacefully and even gratefully accepting this role of domestic slave, these "house" wives have enslaved their own kind and have relegated them to a small pot, unable to grow or become something greater than what they are now. Their love of their role has whittled their growth, their love of their role has bound their soul, their love of their roles have crippled their brain. Their love of their role has made them "small and cozy", like a bonsai.
The women, as Marge Piercy describes, is like a bonsai. She is small. She is weak. Through the artifice of men, she has accepted her role and has grown to her container. Through inaction, women have helped the deception. The desire for love, acceptance, and validation have bound women into little role. It takes two to tango, as they say, and Piercy hits both partners in this venomously cozy piece.
User Reviews
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2007-01-08 19:05:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Women should be seen, not heard. A women should stay at home and raise the children. A women should not grow to the heights that men grow. A women should be pruned and whittled, whittled into a nice little pot.
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Change your e's to a's and this'd be better. I fucking hate that writer though, I read one of her books, 'He, She and It' and thought it was typical contemporary American fiction, which is shite, with very few exceptions.
Submitted by UberSavedMyLife (user info) at 2007-01-08 18:07:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Well, first of all, although to be honest it sounds like you're prepared for it, ignore all the morons out there who have very little constructive criticism to hand out, probably because they couldn't follow the essay, short as it was.
I went and read the poem and think you have picked up on some very valid, although somewhat obvious points, but i'll leave that there, i'm not an english tutor so i'll just give some stylistic feedback (and i hope helpful rather than insulting) instead of spouting out my views on interpretation.
Firstly: You mention "but when one examines social stereotypical of genders"...its kind of a badly constructed sentence...try something (for example, i'm no authority but just from the sound of it) "but should one examine the commonplace gender stereotypes, it is possible to see that..."
Secondly: try not to patronise the reader with sentences like "for the less astute reader" in my experience university professors don't like it.
and next: "Piercy shortly thereafter uses words" repetative...shortly and thereafter don't read well together, and whilst they don't have exactly the same meaning it implies the same meaning, if i were you i'd cut out shortly.
Honestly not much more: " To be desired by men was paramount to a women's existence then " THEN is very vague, give a time period to reference, for example if its the early 1900's "China in the early 1900's..." and so on...
last one: i just think that parts of it, whilst trying to get across very astute observations, don't quite achieve it, its just essay style (it took me 3 years to master it..and even now i struggle, don't be disheartened) rather than "also the feeling women feel in today's society to be desired" try something like "also this applies to contemporary society in that the female is pressurised in the media to be desirable" and instead of "Women should be seen, not heard" try maybe along the lines of "As the saying has been applied to children, in the present day there is a seemingly applied pressure for women to 'be seen and not heard'" but then make sure you back this up, in contemporary society, its a contentious issue...equal rights aren't what they were in the 60's...and in WESTERN society, there isn't this pressure to the same degree there is elsewhere, maybe state that you are talking about eastern/chinese society...don't be too general.
Anyway, i hope i've been somewhat helpful for you and really it's a great start...with a little bit of work it could be great! and it really did make me smile. reminded me of my days starting out at college...
Submitted by homer42 (user info) at 2007-01-08 18:02:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No not you, you're fine.
I've been sifting through bubba's shit hoping to find SOMETHING I can rate highly so that he will stop whining that I give his shitty shit poor ratings merely in retalation to him posting something stupid about me rather the truth that I rank it low because it sucks.
Submitted by Orgasmatron (user info) at 2007-01-08 17:36:27 (#)
Ranking: 0
I've been crying?
I may be poetry-ghey, but not that poetry-ghey.
Submitted by Orgasmatron (user info) at 2007-01-08 17:36:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I've been crying?
I may be poetry-ghey, but not that poetry-ghey.
Submitted by homer42 (user info) at 2007-01-08 17:18:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
He's been crying for several days and counting because I gave him bad ratings on shitty posted... probably also that I pointed out what a fucking moron he is. He bitchs and whines alot though that's the point.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2007-01-08 16:27:51 (#)
Ranking: 0
Orgasmatron is the most qualified to comment to you on anything concerning poetry.
Homer42 is the least qualified for anything...
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-01-08 17:10:50 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Fuck
You
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-01-08 16:47:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2007-01-08 16:27:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Orgasmatron is the most qualified to comment to you on anything concerning poetry.
Homer42 is the least qualified for anything...
Submitted by PWF (user info) at 2007-01-08 16:18:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I wasn't asking for consideration based on the fact that I'm new, I was asking for you not to automatically -2 it based on that fact.
Submitted by goferforhire (user info) at 2007-01-08 15:52:09 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Without looking at the poem all I can say is that you sound a little pretentious and you're really reaching on your metaphors, similes, and other assorted comparisons. Of course, it may just be a terribly bad, terribly pretentious poem.
Submitted by homer42 (user info) at 2007-01-08 15:44:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I hate poetry and I hate this. Still this has more substance and is more deserving of some kind of positive rating than this steaming pile of shit (and a million others like it) that the retard majority here vote up: http://www.ubersite.com/m/97466. Absolutely fucking appalling.
If you are a group of people with connected functioning brain cells and have rational thoughts and you want to say "fuck you asshole I don't like your opinion or your idea, etc. etc." -2 fine. But some sort of coherent fucking thought that has substance is awlays better than this shit. The more I read here the more I am absolutely shocked at the lowly intelligence level of the average person. Still there are a handful of people here that post cool shit, actually can think for themselves and are interesting to talk to. Too bad the other 10,000 are fucking morons. :(
Submitted by ChristPuncher (user info) at 2007-01-08 15:42:20 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
because of that AND because I you don't like the poem
GO BEARS WOO!!!
Submitted by sweetcheebs (user info) at 2007-01-08 15:38:29 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
-2, because you asked me not to.
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2007-01-08 15:33:29 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
In Soviet Russia
Poem writes YOU!!!
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2007-01-08 15:14:13 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Not because you're new, but because you asked for some consideration on that basis.
Not because I don't like poetry, but because your poetry is shit poetry.
Speaking of shit poetry...
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Hope you rupture your colon
on this -2
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-01-08 15:13:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2007-01-08 15:12:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Welcome to Uber.
Now analyze this one, please.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/91705
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2007-01-08 15:09:08 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by BadASCII (user info) at 2007-01-08 15:08:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment