The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word anger, a noun physical affliction or pain; inflammatory state of any part of the body. Then defines anger, a verb to distress, trouble, vex, hurt, wound. In Linda Pastan’s poem “Anger” the word anger takes the action of a noun. The word anger stands out for two reasons, the author chooses it for the title, and the only sentence with anger gives the poem meaning. In the beginning of the poem the word “it” gets used many times and we don’t know what “it”
Marks By: Linda Pastan. Pastan uses one metaphoric theme throughout this poem to get her point across. The way that Pastan sets up the main point is by framing how a mom or wife is looked at by their children, she represents this by receiving letter grades from her husband and children as representation in how she is not good enough or appreciated for what she is doing for her family. The mother represented in the poem is not actually being given letter grades, this however allows Pastan to connect
The message Linda Pastan portrays in the poem Ethics is the idea that one can only fully grasp ethics and morals once they mature and have developed experiences in their life. Ethics and morals can only be present once one has gained experienced and developed maturity. The author uses imagery, diction and figures of speech to prove this point. In this poem, a teacher asks her students, if there was a fire and they only had the choice to save a Rembrandt painting or an old woman, which would they
Ethics and Human Life A political (feminist) criticism of “Ethics” becomes a commentary on how our society views the elderly, especially elderly women. The author, Linda Pastan, is the narrator of the poem and presents herself recalling an ethics class taken when she was young. An ethical delimina is presented by a teacher. The students are asked , ”if there were a fire in a museum/ which would you save, a Rembrandt painting/ or an old woman who hadn’t many/years left anyhow?” (lines 3-5). The
In "Ethics," a poem by Linda Pastan, the speaker talks about a moral question that her Ethics teacher would ask every fall, which has remained in her thoughts for a long time. The question was "if there were a fire in a museum / which would you save, a Rembrandt painting / or an old woman who hadn't many / years left anyhow?" (3-6). and the speaker tells us that ethics and moral values can only be learned from the reflection which comes through experience and maturity. The speaker uses some literary
No one likes to be judged, whether the judgement is good or bad. People in general are already critical of themselves to have the time to be critical of others, but, people seem to have found toe time to do it. In Linda Pastan’s “Marks’, the mother receives judgement in the form of grades from her family members. The last two lines of the poems could be read one of two ways, of that of indignance or melancholy. One outcome that people would expect is for her to kill herself, but as the reader, my
The poem I chose to write about is “Marks” by Linda Pastan. In this poem, she appears to be married with two kids and it was written about her experience in her everyday life as a woman. The poem “Marks” is found on page 807 in our text. This poem was very relatable to my life as an everyday woman. The poem expressed how Linda, just like myself, a married woman with two kids, deal with the constant grading of our daily routine as a woman just as if we are still a student in school. The poem
there is an distinct line that separates the two genders in society. Linda Pastan, a feminist critic, writes a short poem that focuses on a wife’s duties being graded by her family as if they were her homework assignment. In her poem Marks, Linda Pastan utilizes the reduction to body, denial of autonomy, and the act of ownership to temporarily re-evaluate her position within her family. By examining traditional gender roles, Pastan writes her short poem in the view of a mother figure. The mother
Descriptive Language in Linda Pastan's Ethics As people evolve from children to young adults and finally to maturity, they find that they are constantly faced with difficult decisions. Learning to make the right choice in a difficult situation is one of the hardest lessons to learn. Many people make choices without considering what the results may be. They only look to the future for knowledge instead of considering the knowledge already discovered in the past. In Linda Pastan's "Ethics," the
but some do not experience it as Linda Pastan did during the women’s movement. She expresses her feeling of “life” in her poem “Marks” and “Baseball. Both of these poems portray the use of extended metaphors to set the theme of her poems and are similar in comparing two distinct things to life, but in different ways. Linda Pastan was a great poet while also a wife and mother. She “suspended her writing for a decade while raising her three children” (Potvin 2). Pastan stated in an interview with Jeffery
age. This is an ongoing issue, as women across the globe are being objectified. This is also true in family life. Men treat women as if they were something that they have a right to own and use, which is toxic for both sides of the relationship. Linda Pastan, in her poem Marks, finds that instrumentality, denial of subjectivity, and ownership cause the narrator to rethink and reject her
The Use of Tone and Metaphors in Marks by Linda Pastan Linda Pastan?s poem ?Marks? is unusual because it addresses the frustrations of a typical housewife. Few people consider being a wife and mother a full-time job in itself, and it is not uncommon for a woman who plays both of these roles to feel overworked and unappreciated. What is unusual about Pastan?s poem is the way she effectively conveys these sentiments by the use of metaphors, tone, and informal diction. The speaker?s attitude
special bond between parents and children, but there is always uncertainty, whether it’s with the parents having to let go or the children, now adults, reminiscing on the times they had with their parents. The poem “To a Daughter Leaving Home” by Linda Pastan is a very emotional poem about what you can assume: a daughter leaving home. Then the poem “Alzheimer 's" by Kelly Cherry is about the poet’s father, a former professional musician who develops the disease. These are only two examples that show
The “The five stages of grief” by Linda Pastan and the imageries related to the poem provokes an idea that if an individual just follow what others say without attempting to make a change, they are unlikely to look forward and move on. The protagonist fails to step out of her melancholic nostalgia past, while others think it’s as easy as “learning to climb/ Stairs after amputation”. Relearning to climb after amputation suggests that what was previously known is either forgotten or unuseful similar
"Why Are Your Poem 's So Dark?" written by Linda Pastan, answers the question of why poet 's always seem to write about the darkness of the world. Pastan 's purpose is to stand up for the poets who are criticized for writing dark poems. She wants to let people know that poets write about the reality of the world, with all the injustices that taken place in the world. The world is a dark place, so choose poets write about what they see in the world. In the first two lines of the poem the speaker
Grief is most commonly perceived as a driving force that pushes individuals into a melancholic state. Linda Pastan’s poem The Five Stages of Grief depicts the effects of prolonging grief through the eyes of an individual who has recently experienced a personal loss. Throughout the story, the speaker struggles to accept the loss of a loved one, setting the overall atmosphere of the story to one that helps readers visualize the pain and suffering the speaker goes through. The Five Stages of Grief
Linda Pastan's poem "Ethics" In Linda Pastan's poem "Ethics," the speaker recounts a moral dilemma that her teacher would ask every fall, which has been haunting her for a long time. The question was "if there were a fire in a museum / which would you save, a Rembrandt painting / or an old woman who hadn't many / years left anyhow?" and the speaker tells us through the theme that ethics and moral values can be only learned from the reflection which comes through experience and maturity. In this
about the dreams of American society. This essay will explore how each character of the play contributes to Willy's dream, success, and failure. Willy is the aging salesman whose imagination is much larger than his sales ability. Willy's wife, Linda, stands by her husband even in his absence of realism. Biff and Happy follow in their father's fallacy of life. Willy's brother, Ben is the only member of the Loman family with the clear vision necessary to succeed. Charlie and his son Benard, on the
plays, Willy Loman returns to his home in Brooklyn one night, exhausted from a failed sales trip. His wife, Linda, tries to persuade him to ask his boss, Howard Wagner, to let him work in New York so that he won't have to travel. Willy says that he will talk to Howard the next day. Willy complains that Biff, his older son who has come back home to visit, has yet to make something of himself. Linda scolds Willy for being so critical, and Willy goes to the kitchen for a snack. As Willy talks to himself