The Black Art: a critique
Poetry like any other form of creative work is there to express the author's thoughts, opinions and feelings to their audience. There are vast strategies that can be applied to help readers "make sense of it". Which method you use relies heavily on the poem you are reading. Different poems call on different aspects of poetry, ways of reading, and the relationships between feelings, images and meaning. It is the purpose of this essay is to discuss elements of analysis that are designed to help readers identify the way poetry makes it's meaning. Looking at the poem "The Black Art", we will discuss how the piece achieves it's effects for the audience. To begin reading a poem, I believe that it is imperative to identify major indicators of meaning, this includes aspects of setting and topic, as well as the voice of the person dominating or directing your reading. This can be achieved by looking for a clue as to the identity of the narrator, is it coming from a feminine or masculine point of view? "The Black Art" comes from a feminine point of view, the narrator is clearly female. The first stanza refers to women, "a woman who writes feels too much," this stanza is ended with the key line "Dear love, I am that girl". The u
Another example of the satirical nature of the poem is in the line "she thinks she can warn the stars. Women are commonly referred to, as emotional beings while men are rational. ", the author is again using rhetorical figures to describe the male subject as a thief - taking self-esteem and capability away from her. The diction, intonation and nuance of the phrases in the stanzas can convey to the reader the attitudes to it's subject. However when we take a closer look at the addition of the words "as if" and "wasn't /never enough" and the repetitive pattern of their inclusion before the phrases, "cycles and children and islands" and "erections and congress and products", the tone of commentary appears sarcastic. This comments on the inequity of power within the relationship. In the first stanza, I believe the author is trying to suggest that although women have important roles as mothers, and caregivers (children & vegetables), it is only a small part of our identity as a person. line length, spoken rhythm of the poem), serves to emphasize the continuing satirical nature of the piece when switching from talking about herself to talking about the male subject. In stanza one the word "cycle" perhaps refers to the female menstrual cycle and to the feminine point of view, while the word "erection" pertaining to a mans genitals, highlights the switch to talking about the masculine perspective. I find metaphors, similes and so forth distracting sometimes to the true meaning of the poem. A reader can take the words for face value or take a closer look to see if the author has meant these words to have a different connotation. The author established a firm identification with the female audience. Dear love, I am that girl & Never loving ourselves.
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Acceptance Essays
