The poem "Woman" by Nikki Giovanni tells a story of a female who straggles to fuse together her need for self actualization and empowerment, with the socially instilled in her notion about her role as a female, and with the notion that she needs to have a man in her life to achieve what she wants. At the end of her struggles she instead chooses to be a "Woman" - a separate entity who does not require a man, - and she discovers that that is "all / right"(22,23). Through the act of becoming a "Woman", a wholly independent opposite to a man, yet his equal, she relinquishes her notions regarding her role as a mare female, and empowers herself to achieve her goals without a man.
Except for the title the entire poem is written in lowercase letters, no single word is capitalized. Capital letters are used to identify names and to place emphasis; therefore they are often associated with importance, or identity. Absence of capitalization in the poem is symbolic of the main character's belief of what her role as a female should be. She believes that she must blend in, that she is lower than a man maybe even inferior.
The initial line in the poem gives us a glimpse into her true desires. As we read "she wanted to be a blade"(line 1) our initial interpretation is that she desires to be strong like a steel blade, powerful and sharp. But in the second line of the poem her notions limit her desire and she takes a step back stating that she only wants to be a blade "of grass" undistinguishable in "the field."
Boxed in by her notions, she turns to a man to be her "dandelion"(4) amongst a field of grass. Here dandelion is a symbol for identity. Dandelion is very vibrant and can be seen from a distance amongst the grass. Sadly in line thr...
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...me time the man shows no change, he continues to have no interest in assisting the female, and having him around obstructs the female from growing, he won't "let her grow"(17).
Finally, in the last stanza the female recognizes that she needs to act on her own, and empower her own self. So she chooses to become "a woman"(19). A woman is a source of life; a woman exists separately from a man; a woman exists as an equal to the man. The capital letter in the title of the poem tells as that as a woman she has importance, she stands out. The female becomes a "Woman", and with that transformation she finds identity and no longer needs to rely on a man. She has transformed herself and threw out her notions, she has self actualizes. While the man still refuses to play a role in her life, "Woman" decides that she no longer needs him in it, "she decided it was all / right."
In the fourth stanza, line one to three the female has an upper hand in this relationship. In line four to seven the male feels uplifted by the deeds of the female and chooses to change himself for the
Muske asks, “The question of self, for a woman poet…is continually vexing…what is a woman’s self?” (Muske 3). Women have historically had their self created for them by the patriarchal society in which they live, which leaves contemporary women wondering how to define a woman’s self at all. Even if they, as women, can create a self, how accurate is it? Muske muses on what is a truth telling self since a woman’s perception of truth is colored always by what the patriarchal society is telling her is truth. Muske says in her poem “A Private Matter”, “…there are the words, dialogue of people you once became or not…”. It is in these words that a woman finds herself, a poem of all the selves in a self, but not without a cost. In “Epith”, Muske muses:
Capitalization of nouns that aren't normally capitalized can bring importance to things that might not be considered proper nouns. Poetry gives the author the freedom to manipulate the structure of a poem so they can emphasize different subjects. In this poem, Petrosino capitalizes the beginning letter of every work that isn't a connecting word such as “of, the, to is, etc.” Most of these words are nouns, but not proper nouns, so the capitalization of these words brings importance to every word. It also sets apart each word making it it's own subject. The different subjects are disconnected from each other and it is a little unsettling to the eye to look at.
‘The woman’ of the poem has no specific identity and this helps us even further see the situation in which the woman is experiencing, the lost of one’s identity. Questions start to be raised and we wonder if Harwood uses this character to portray her views of every woman which goes into the stage of motherhood, where much sacrifice is needed one being the identity that was present in society prior to children.
...en a woman conforms to a society’s standards she is not as beautiful as someone who is unrestricted of these limitations. Consequently, comparing her to a “goldenrod ready to bloom” (19) draws implications of flowers blooming in springtime, which are lovely. This allows the reader to see natural life growing from the woman and beginning to break free of the shell society creates. She shows resistance to the ideas of how women should act be look like. The poem ends with potential: the women can change how she is viewed in the world but she has to take the first step.
Just from this short quote, one can see the independence she wanted the women in her stories to feel without having a man in their lives.
For example, in Hughes’ poem, the madam says, “I said, Naturally/ You pass the buck/ If it’s money you want/ You’re out of luck” (Lines 23-26). These lines show a specific example of a madam who is angered out of her wits by the conditions of her flat, lashing out at the rent collector about how she simply will not give him any money until the landlord fixes all of the problems in her living space. This defiance speaks to the point that women have the right to defend themselves and speak out, instead of giving into those who think that they can rule unfairly over her. Similarly and yet straighter to the point, Umansky writes from a third person view that, “In this story, she knows no fear/… fear is a house gone dry/Fear is not being a woman” (Lines 3, 7, 8). From these lines, one can picture a woman (in context with the fact that this is a character from Game of Thrones) who is not supposed to be fighting in war, yet wields a sword and is not afraid of doing a man’s job. Overcoming supposed obstacles such as being discouraged from becoming a female warrior in a man’s world shows that women can be indifferent to fears and obstacles they may have to overcome in order to become who they truly want to
‘’The woman thing’’ by Audre Lorde reflects more on her life as a woman, this poem relates to the writers work and also has the theme of feminism attached it. The writers role in this poem is to help the women in discovering their womanhood just as the title say’s ‘’the woman thing.’’ The poem is free verse and doesn’t have a rhyme to it and has twenty-five lines.
women. This poem shows just that. After the fish monger asks her if she wants the fish cut, she immediately says no. She is “Not a girl and longer, she is capable of her own knife work now. She understands sharpness and duty.” This quote, in itself, not only shows that she believes she is capable of doing things herself, but that she can be a force in the world. She understands what she is supposed to do, but realizes that because of her sharpness, she can do more that her duty. The use of the word sharpness here is key. She is not just clear on what she wants, but she will do anything she has to to get it. She goes on to say, “She knows what a blade can reveal and destroy… She would rather be the one deciding what she keeps and what she throws away.” This again points out the feminist side of the women. She understands how she is supposed to act, but she gets to decide what she is going to keep of that idea and what she is going to discard. She gets to decide how she can use the little power she has to reveal and destroy. Reveal here implies a much deeper meaning than to uncover, but that with her determination she can expose social injustice in the world and has the power to demolish it entirely. She is not just a girl, she is a person with a voice to be heard. This idea is also mirrored with
Society has redefined the role of woman by their works thru poetry that has changed their life
This, in fact, is an example of “dynamic decomposition” of which the speaker claims she understands nothing. The ironic contradiction of form and content underlines the contradiction between the women’s presentation of her outer self and that of her inner self. The poem concludes with the line “’Let us go home she is tired and wants to go to bed.’” which is a statement made by the man. Hence, it “appears to give the last word to the men” but, in reality, it mirrors the poem’s opening lines and emphasises the role the woman assumes on the outside as well as her inner awareness and criticism. This echoes Loy’s proclamation in her “Feminist Manifesto” in which she states that women should “[l]eave off looking to men to find out what [they] are not [but] seek within [themselves] to find out what [they] are”. Therefore, the poem presents a “new woman” confined in the traditional social order but resisting it as she is aware and critical of
Maya Angelou, a poet and award-winning author, is highly known for her symbolic and life-experienced stories. In her poem Men, she shows the theme of men domination over women, through her personal struggle. She makes her writing appealing and direct to the reader. With the use of various literary devices (similes, metaphor, imagery, and symbolism), sentence length, and present to past tense it helps the readers understand the overall theme in Men.
There are millions of words across the globe that are used to describe people and uncover their identity, but what is identity? How can you begin to describe something that varies so greatly from one human being to another? Can you create a universal meaning for a word describing human concepts that people often fail to define for themselves? Of course there isn't one definition to define such a word. It is an intricate aspect of human nature, and it has a definition just as complex.
For one, brief hour she was an individual. Now she finds herself bound by masculine oppression with no end in sight, and the result is death.
Several people regard women as inferior figures in this global world. Women have challenged the traditional female roles and have gradually climbed up the ladder of equality. They portray a distinct perspective that proves that womanhood can accomplish anything they set their mind to and search for equal gender status. The poems celebrate femininity and highlights the traits necessary for a women to be successful. The ladies in the poems are female-figures that carry themselves with high self-esteem and fearlessness. This essay identifies various literary techniques that describe feminine strength in Angelou and Clifton.