An Analysis of To Have without Holding by Marge Piercy
The poem "To Have without Holding," by Marge Piercy, is about the speaker trying to reconcile the conflict between her preconceived notion of a personal relationship with present reality. Her partner, whom she must feel worth the pain and effort, apparently has a more liberal and open approach, which causes her to feel insecure. The poem expresses, using metaphor, simile, and symbolism, the speaker's discomfort at a point in time in this emotionally unbalanced relationship. She defines, explains, and personalizes her place in the relationship from a unique and unsettling perspective, while providing a reminder that preconceived notions must eventually be evaluated against one's growing library of empirical evidence obtained, often painfully, via real life experience.
She defines her idea of what is right in a relationship by describing how hard and painful it is for her to stray from that ideal in this instance. As the poem evolves, one can begin to see the author having a conflict with values, while simultaneously expressing which values are hers and which are unnatural to her. She accomplishes this accounting of values by personalizing her position in a somewhat unsettling way throughout the poem.
I was first drawn to the poem by the title. The interesting use of capitalization caught my attention. Why wasn't the letter 'w' in the word "without" capitalized? Upon reading the poem initially, I got an overall impression of being made to feel "uncomfortable," though quite unsure as to why. I had the same impression once I felt I understood the whole poem, but from a completely different perspective. That sort of clarity at differing resolutions is impressive in tha...
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... other party seems unconcerned with all these emotional gymnastics. It seems she is making the compensations for now, though she openly questions the wisdom of this arrangement for the future.
This poem has captured a moment in time of a dynamic, tentative, and uncomfortable relationship as it is evolving. The author, having shared her thoughts, concerns, and opinion of the other party's unchanging definition of the relationship, must surely have gone on to somehow reconcile the situation to her own satisfaction. She relishes the work entailed in changing either of them, perhaps.
Hence, the small "w" in the title. Its absence serves as a prominence to indicate that the point of this poem is about being uncomfortable with the "Having" of a physical relationship without the mutual desire for commitment and security, the moral authority to "Hold" that she craves.
A story review. Relationship changes over the passing of time as circumstances in life shape a person's way of thinking and way of life. Whether it flourishes or decays depends greatly upon how both people react to these alterations.
A developed relationship can be interpreted as one where the couple is interdependent, tolerant, and dedicated. Equity allows a relationship to efficiently develop in this manner. Judith Viorst illustrates a poem depicting a couple’s struggles and their sacrifices for the other in “True Love”. In many points of the poem, the couple is compromising for the other’s flaws in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts. “I do not resent watching the Green Bay Packers / Even though I am philosophically opposed to football” (Stanza 1) is an example of the wife forcing herself
Brockmeier’s short story represents a damaged marriage between a husband and a wife simply due to a different set of values and interests. Brockmeier reveals that there is a limit to love; husbands and wives will only go so far to continually show love for each other. Furthermore, he reveals that love can change as everything in this ever changing world does. More importantly, Brockmeier exposes the harshness and truth behind marriage and the detrimental effects on the people in the family that are involved. In the end, loving people forever seems too good to be true as affairs and divorces continually occur in the lives of numerous couples in society. However, Brockmeier encourages couples to face problems head on and to keep moving forward in a relationship. In the end, marriage is not a necessity needed to live life fully.
In all relationships and situations, we find that restrictions pop up and fade at the most inconvenient times. We can’t control those we love and we certainly cannot change them. All we can do is sit back and hope one day, they will see the truth and we will support them. Throughout Wilmer Mills’ poem “Diary of a Piano-Tuner’s Wife”, the speaker demonstrates several situations where her love and commitment has been pushed to its limits and has been questioned. She is pushed beyond reasonable distances and wants to help but is stuck and can’t provide reasons for what is happening. I can relate to this since the day I turned 8 and everything changed. I suppose we have to accept what has happened is over and done, and hope that one day, someone
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Sanders, Jim. “Some California Leaders Want Low Cost Healthcare for Undocumented Immigrants.” The Sacramento Bee [Sacramento] 19 Apr. 2013: n.pag. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
The definition and guidelines for using the term “hero” to describe a person can be as diverse as the land we live in, however, regardless of your cultural identity the shield of “hero” must be earned. It is defined as “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities, is regarded as a model or ideal (Dictionary.com, 2014). In Classical Mythology, a hero is “a being of godlike prowess, a warrior of special strength, courage or ability” (Dictionary.com, 2014). This describes how we have portrayed our present day heroes, the pedestal that we put them on, after actions reflecting heroism, have been awarded the title. Difficult to earn, harder to retain, but forever remembered.
A hero could be anyone. A hero could be an ordinary person who has impacted someone or has inspired a change toward greatness in their life. A hero can be passive or active, famous or ordinary, rich or poor. What gives a hero a distinct similarities to other heroes and distinguish them from non heroes is their ability to influence others that they are extraordinary because of their means to overcome obstacles, defeated adversities, and still manage to be a leader, role model, or an admirable person within society.
... The author specifically pointed out this fact, noting its importance. That line combined with the other events in the poem draws the reader to the conclusion there is a hostile and abusive mood about the text.
Our English word “hero” can be traced back to the greek word ἥρως or hērōs translating literally to “protector.” Hera and the Greek Gods lived somewhere during 1450-1100BCE, which was considered the Heroic Age in Ancient Greek history. During the Heroic Age, Zeus, King of the Gods, created a race six generations long of noble and powerful men, mortal but god-like. During this period lived legends: the strongest man alive, Hercules, the most skilled warrior, Achilles, and the most cunning man,
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.
Authors use poetry to creatively present attitudes and opinions. “A Man’s Requirements,” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment” are two poems with distinct attitudes about love that contain different literary approaches. In both of the poems, love is addressed from a different perspective, producing the difference in expectation and presentation, but both suggest the women are subservient in the relationships.
Overall, the imagery that Plath creates is framed by her diction and is used to convey her emotions toward all relationships and probably even her own marriage to Ted Hughes, who had rude, disorderly habits. Even the structure of the poem is strict in appearance as each stanza ends with a period and consists of exactly six lines. In addition, the persona of the poem is very detached and realistic, so much that it is hard to distinguish between her and Plath, herself. However, Plath insinuates that the woman actually wants love deep down, but finds the complexity and unpredictability of love to be frightening. As a result, she settles for solitude as a defense against her underlying fear.
This short story contains a lot more than meets the eye. The story itself is simple, yet there is much detail within. The commonality of a relationship gone awry is extensively written upon, but this piece glorifies the action that takes place by the individual who is suffering. This entices one to continue reading in order to uncover the resolution. Each sentence within the story has more to say than just what is on the surface helping to create the tension as one reads between the lines. The opposition in each characters words due to their dialogue leads them down two different paths; one which focuses on what the character is saying, and one which focuses on what is meant by what the character is saying. This enriches the story which is exciting and thought provoking to read.
These factors lead to the unraveling of the relationship as the conflict precedes and is described through both of their views on the issue. As the topic of their son was brought up, which is the cause of the confrontation, the woman immediately “withdrew shrinking from beneath his arm”, illustrating how she feels as she faces him in such a situation (33). The woman feels she must make herself and her emotions smaller, ultimately concealing them completely from him, as she faces him due to his inability to understand her, avoiding his questions and comments. Throughout the poem she seems insistent in leaving their home saying “[She] must get out of [there]. [She] must get air” because she feels suffocated both by his way of responding to situations which have taken an emotional toll on her and her incapability of being able to have closure on the situation while living in conditions that are not being of assistance to her (39). These actions show how she has to alter some aspects of her personality when speaking to him to please him, and he feels like he has to do the same. As he says “A man must partly give up being a man / With women-folk”, he is describing how he feels he must give up his opinion or view on certain topics and even says “[they] could have some arrangement by which [he’d] bind [himself] to keep hands off / Anything special [she’s] a-mind to name” (52-55). He continues by describing how having such disagreements and having to make compromises with each other are part of being in a relationship “Though [he doesn’t] like such things ‘twix those that love”, but now that he sees how serious she is about