The Connection Between Imagery and Paradoxes in Poetry

1390 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Imagery analysis on poem essay

Ars Poetica, written by Archibald MacLeish, depicts the significance of a poem’s use of imagery in order to convey the author’s intended meaning. “A poem should be wordless, as the flight of birds” (MacLeish 558 l.7-8). A flock of birds does not take much thought to comprehend, rather the sight explains the event itself. This beautiful metaphor presents a suggestion for poets by displaying its effectiveness first hand. Likewise, the poems in “cluster 3” follow the same criterion. In essence, Ars Poetica acts as a guideline for the following poems. The main ruling for the poets is to use imagery in order to create paradoxes that are bewilderingly relevant to the daily life of readers. This is done through the usage of narration, emotion, and rhyme.

In the poem Barbie Doll, Marge Piercy illustrates the life of a girl who was rejected by society due to her physical appearance. The poem starts off by addressing the name of toys that readers may remember from their childhood, “…and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons…” (Piercy 416 l.2-3). This use of imagery settles the reader into the retrospect of their youth. “Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: you have a great big nose and fat legs” (Piercy 416 l.5-6). As a child, it is not out of the ordinary to experience bullying. Some individuals may experience more than others, however; it wouldn’t be an irrational claim to say that most children have underwent at least one account where they felt violated by another child. In this sense, most readers would be able to relate to the story, even if they hadn’t experienced as much agony as the nameless girl in the poem. The girl inevitably passed away and was painted in cosmetics. The poem then goes o...

... middle of paper ...

... syllable lines, which gives the effect of a balanced beat, or something one can dance to. Additionally, it seems that he uses the same verse at the beginning and at the end of the poem, in order to create a “frame” which is relative to the actual painting.

Ars Poetica has clearly set the guidelines for the cluster of poems that followed. A main concept that was stressed by Archibald MacLeish, was relativity to the reader. “A poem should not mean, but be” (MacLeish 558 l.23-24). MacLeish also placed importance on imagery; “A poem should be wordless, as the flight of birds” (MacLeish 558 l.7-8). Principally, literary devices gives poems a more effective meaning. The poems that were analyzed displayed great amounts of imagery which helped to form common paradoxes that readers may face in their everyday lives, thus giving the cluster of poems relativity to its readers.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Was Of Things By Willie Perdomo

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagery uses five senses such as visual, sound, olfactory, taste and tactile to create a sense of picture in the readers’ mind. In this poem, the speaker uses visual imagination when he wrote, “I took my time in old darkness,” making the reader visualize the past memory of the speaker in “old darkness.” The speaker tries to show the time period he chose to write the poem. The speaker is trying to illustrate one of the imagery tools, which can be used to write a poem and tries to suggest one time period which can be used to write a poem. Imagery becomes important for the reader to imagine the same picture the speaker is trying to convey. Imagery should be speculated too when writing a poem to express the big

    Read More

  • The Barbie Doll and Richard Cory

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Barbie Doll, the author writes about a girl' s life. The author starts off by describing her childhood. She was given dolls and toys like any other girl and she also wore hints of lipstick. This girl was healthy and rather intelligent. Even though she had possessed many good traits she was still looked at by others as "the girl with a big nose and fat legs". She exercised, dieted and smiled as much as possible to please those around her. She became tired of pleasing everyone else and decided to commit suicide. During her funeral those who she had tried to please in the past were the ones to comment about how beautiful she looked. Finally she had received the praise she was longing for.

    Read More

  • Gender Insanity in Barbie Doll, Ken Doll, and The Yellow Wallpaper

    637 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marge Piercy wrote the Barbie Doll poem in 1973, during the woman’s movement. The title of the poem Barbie Doll, symbolizes how females are supposed to appear into the society. In the poem Barbie Doll, the main character was a girl. She was described as a usual child when she was born. Meaning that she had normal features that any person could ever have. Piercy used “wee lipstick the color of cherry candy” as a smile to describe the child before she has hit puberty. After the character hit puberty, the classmates in her class began to tease her saying “you have a big nose and fat legs.” (Piercy pg. 1) Having a big nose and a fat leg is the opposite of what females are supposed to be presented as in the gender stereotype. In the society that the girl lives in, follows the gender stereotypes that presented females as a petite figure with a slender body. These expectations made the character go insane. She wanted to fit into the society so she “cut off her nose and legs and offered them up.” (Piercy pg. 1) Even though the girl was “healthy, tested intelligent…” (Piercy pg. 1) no one saw that in her, but her appearances. In the end of the poem the girl end up dying, a...

    Read More

  • Marge Piercy’s Barbie Doll

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Marge Piercy’s, “Barbie Doll,” we see the effect that society has on the expectations of women. A woman, like the girl described in ‘Barbie Doll’, should be perfect. She should know how to cook and clean, but most importantly be attractive according to the impossible stereotypes of womanly beauty. Many women in today’s society are compared to the unrealistic life and form of the doll. The doll, throughout many years, has transformed itself from a popular toy to a role model for actual women. The extremes to which women take this role model are implicated in this short, yet truthful poem.

    Read More

  • Love in One Perfect Rose by Dorothy Parker and Cinderella’s Diary by Ron Koertge

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tone, symbolism, and imagery are all fantastic ways to view and examine literary works at diverse levels. Using the right lens to study a work can give it a completely different meaning and can lend itself to instill a different lesson than was originally understood. In one work, a rose is thought of as being a discontent and as tool to show the speaker’s true feelings on what love means to her. In another, the simple sight of some commoners forces the speaker to long for a life free of the constraints of a forced marriage, making her yearn for a life of freedom and being normal. Both works use multiple literary techniques to lend themselves too many different elucidations, which makes them such prominent literary gems.

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis: Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    In such a cruel society young woman tend to feel pressured with keeping up a perfect image or appeal just to please everyone around them. The speaker in this poem is third person, the audience is very clear focusing on society and parents raising young girls. The overall theme is how society has a standard of how pretty someone is. It causes woman to feel pressured into looking and acting a certain way. A “girl child” is born and once she hits puberty, she is humiliated for what other people point out and see as her flaws. Soon she tired of trying so hard to be what she was not. She eventually got what she wanted which was to look pretty, though it cost her own life. In this eye opening poem “Barbie Doll”, Marge Piercy gives a great representation of how society’s view affects a young woman’s self-image using similes, gruesome symbols, and strong irony.

    Read More

  • Marge Piercy’s Barbie Doll

    1441 Words  | 3 Pages

    Every woman grows up knowing that they one day want to be beautiful. In Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” she gives an in depth look at what negative effects the concept of beauty can have on an individual. From infancy to a full grown adult woman, beauty has been a way of thinking and lifestyle. As a little girl you are given petite shaped, blonde, blue eyed dolls. While boys are given brawny soldiers and mechanical toys.

    Read More

  • Untitled and Advice to My Son, by Peter Meinke

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    The speakers and audience in poem are crucial elements of the poem and is also the case in these poems. In the poem Untitled, it can be argued that the poem is being written by Peter based on what his father might say to him...

    Read More

  • Elizabethan Sublime Poem Analysis

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most well known historic characteristics of poetry is that of rhyme, a technique that Alexander rejects. In American Sublime, every poem is written in free verse. Although some poems may contain an occasional slant rhyme, there is no fixed rhyme scheme in Alexander’s works. Along with her lack of rhyme, there is a no consistency in the structure of Elizabeth Alexander’s poetry. This is best demonstrated in the “Amistad” section of American Sublime. Each of the poems in this part tell a piece of the story of the Amistad ship and the slave revolt. However, only a few of these poems share similar structures. While some poems contain seven stanzas, others a written in haikus, and while others do not contain stanza breaks, making the poem one long stanza. By doing this, Elizabeth Alexander keeps herself from having a signature structure for her poems. Instead, by neglecting to use a specific style, Alexander creates a stark distinction between herself and other

    Read More

  • Comparing Cyrano De Bergerac 'And O'

    494 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Flung leagues of roaring foam into the gorge below us, as far as the eye could see.” By using hyperbole, the author is lead the reader to the overall idea of the poem. “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “O’were I Loved as I desire to be”, use these devices to demonstrate the main theme of love isn’t as easy as it seems. The authors are able to create such emotional works by incorporating metaphors and other literary devices.

    Read More

  • Irony And Symbolism In Marge Piercy's Barbie Doll

    1702 Words  | 4 Pages

    Her poem, “Barbie Doll,” tells the story of a young girl who was short-lived. She was beaten down by society's expectations of what she should be. The poem was a major eye-opener for many, especially considering the time period it was written in. It helped to put the inappropriate and materialistic standards that women continued to be held up to on full display. It broadcasts the effects of these insane standards with an uncensored, real and raw approach.

    Read More

  • report on letters from a father

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...t is arguable that the birds fight is also a metaphor, implying the fight exists not only between birds but also in the father’s mind. Finally, the last part confirms the transformation of the parents, from a life-weary attitude to a “moving on” one by contrasting the gloomy and harmonious letter. In addition, readers should consider this changed attitude as a preference of the poet. Within the poem, we would be able to the repetitions of word with same notion. Take the first part of the poem as example, words like death, illness

    Read More

  • Language And Diction In Barbie Doll, By Marge Piercy

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “Barbie Doll,” by Marge Piercy, the speaker’s tone is remorsefully cautionary because she aims to protect females from the societal standards that caused the female subject of the poem to commit suicide. Early in the poem, the speaker illustrates the teen prior to her death: “She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back, / abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (7-9). Clearly, the girl had the potential to be very successful, as a result of her many natural gifts. However, she was constantly harassed and nagged because she had a “great big nose and fat legs” (6). Even though she had all the attributes of a very successful woman, she was still abused by her fellow classmates because she did not uphold the societal

    Read More

  • Lines By Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of alll, the poem is divided into nine stanzas, where each one has four lines. In addition to that, one can spot a few enjambements for instance (l.9-10). This stylistic device has the function to support the flow of the poem. Furthermore, it is crucial to take a look at the choice of words, when analysing the language.

    Read More

  • The Poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coloridge

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through alliteration and imagery, Coleridge turns the words of the poem into a system of symbols that become unfixed to the reader. Coleridge uses alliteration throughout the poem, in which the reader “hovers” between imagination and reality. As the reader moves through the poem, they feel as if they are traveling along a river, “five miles meandering with a mazy motion” (25). The words become a symbol of a slow moving river and as the reader travels along the river, they are also traveling through each stanza. This creates a scene that the viewer can turn words into symbols while in reality they are just reading text. Coleridge is also able to illustrate a suspension of the mind through imagery; done so by producing images that are unfixed to the r...

    Read More

More about The Connection Between Imagery and Paradoxes in Poetry

Open Document