In this essay we analyze the poem; secretary chant written by Marge Piercy (Meyer 744). Notably, Marge Piercy uses whimsical metaphor in the whole poem to make the audience understand that the worker is a woman who is in an occupation that makes her feel like a machine with just a single purpose in life. Marge Piercy has written this poem in a simple and lucid style that emphasizes playful bizarre; however, in some ways it uses depressing metaphors to depict how the secretary frequently feels dehumanized. Marge Piercy conjures up explicit mental image of a female character with no personal identity but lives her life indirectly through her career. In the poem, author uses anomaly and outrageous witticism to help the reader in identifying with the feelings of the character who is always seated at her desk performing routine office drudgery. From Line 1 of the poem, the distinctive imagery makes is obvious for the audience to understand that the women is a witless office tools of extreme custom. The wording of the poem is informal, not vague and undeniably portrays the worker as a bone fide material object. The first line My hips are a desk do not mean that her hips conform with the appearance of a desk, nor do Line 4 Rubber bands form my hair literary suggest so (Meyer 744)..
It is proper to acknowledge that all writing emerges from a situation that brings about a convergence of a desire to write, a subject matter, a genre, an audience, a purpose, place time and a writer. The choice of diction heavily relies on the message the author wants to send. In these regard, the choice of the type of diction to use and the words to use assists in conveying those claims to the intended audience. In the poem under analysis Marge Piercy addresses to general audience. By the phrase Swollen, heavy, rectangular he represents enormous workload. The workplace routine is directed to the position of the woman in the office. In keeping with the poem, the work burden changes the worker life to robotic office paraphernalia as illustrates in the 19th line (Meyer 744).
"I am about to be delivered
Of a baby
Xerox machine."
Marge Piercy has chosen a style that will reflect Worker's feelings to express his thoughts in an imaginative way. A conscious choice about stylistic decision in this poem has helped the audience to understand the meaning of the poem. Diction i.e. Style of Speech used in this poem acts as a fundamental ingredient that brings out emotions and writers expression to the audience through wording. Notably, level of diction can be defined as a degree of lexical convolution of the words. These levels of diction firmly relate to ethos and writers use certain levels of diction while projecting a particular personal narrative. In the poem, Marge Piercy uses informal diction to address the issues in the poem. He uses abstract words i.e. feeling words or idea words. These are word that do not appeal to senses but help to build a background for specific discussions to assist in appealing for the audience attention. The poem also uses effects that assist in building a background for specific discussions. Effects are commonly used to manipulate pathos and create ethos more so through patriotic appeal.
The poem The Secretary Chant portrays a woman who has lost herself to her career. The woman has detached her inner-self from herself as a person and subsequently views her body as an apparatus different from who she is supposed to be. Through the use of semi-informal wording the Marge Piercy demonstrates the position of women in general in the society. The speakers tone in the poem is robotic and her tasks, movement and actions are redundant in a way that there is no thought process that is required to go on her duties.
In the poem, the woman's heart, mind and soul are not unequivocally mentioned and it is almost as if they never exist. However, her gifts of mind are implied by the level lengthening several metaphors that are invented in the poem. As metaphors increases in the poem, comparisons illustrates that the woman is almost literally being overwhelmed by her occupation. The woman almost becomes literally dead, due to the static things she works with.
Conclusively, the final couplet in the poem reinforces the position of secretary as she becomes absorbed into her blurry professional environment to an extent that she can not be separated from her career. As illustrated by the author the secretary's hips are not like a desk but they are literally a desk – that is emphasis have been added. On another line, her hair do not resemble rubber bands; the author emphasis and that her hair form rubber bands. All through the poem The Secretary Chant has drawn imagery from the daily life of a secretary in the world at her presence. The poem uses comparison of an office setting to the secretary human body. By use of metaphors instead of similes, the author implies that she has lost any sense of self-sufficient identity. The author is in a very fundamental sense; she has been overtaken and totally possessed by, her occupation. This poem seems to suggest that this is a fate that has been felt by female secretaries.
Works Cited
Meyer, Michael. The compact Bedford introduction to literature: reading, thinking, writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. Print.
