Macho Man

If I were to re-write the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy it would have the title of, “Macho Man.” I would use this title because this is the stereotype that men are given. Men are supposed to be emotionless and cold, not showing emotions, especially in public. Boys are given trucks, balls, bats, and toy guns to play with when they are young. Boys are supposed to be strong and fast and good at sports and hunting. Boys are not known to be bookworms or good at school work, they are to be athletic and tough. Boys are not taught to be sweat and kind; boys are cocky and speak strongly. Some images that I would present in a poem about boys would be the pressure that they feel to be strong and athletic. Also the shame that they feel when they want to show emotion, but it is not accepted as okay to do so. I would stay with the same informal diction that is used in “Barbie Doll,” I don’t think that a poem about boys would be any different in what diction would be used. I would make it clear in my poem that boys too, feel social pressure and are conscious of their body image just as girls. In the end of the “Barbie Doll,” when she is in her casket the people say, “Doesn’t she look pretty?” (991) The conclusion of my poem would be a man that dies to save someone and everyone says, “Wasn’t he brave and strong?”

"Ozymandias"

In the poem “Ozymandias,” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, a theme that nothing lasts is developed throughout the poem. In the first line of the poem Shelley uses the words, “antique land” (721), to refer to Egypt. Egypt was the land of Rames II, longtime Pharaoh, otherwise known as “Ozymandias.” In using theses words Shelley is suggesting that Egypt is now old and not new, thus the newness of it has not lasted forever. In the second line, “two vast and trunkless legs of stone,” (721) suggests that there is no longer a body to go with the legs that was once there, the statue had crumbled leaving just the stumps for legs. The third line, “a shattered visage lies,” (721) the face is on the ground in pieces. The first three lines together describe the fallen statue, which did not obviously last forever. But it seems like Ozymandias had the attitude that he was better than all because of the quote on the statue, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair” (721) The quotation read that he was great and powerful, yet his statue is now in a heap in the ground, ironic that his legacy can live on but the statue, a symbol of him, was destroyed.

Barbie JOE

After reading Barbie Doll, by Marge Piercy, I looked through my son’s toy chest, and noticed a definite recurring theme: GUNS. Perhaps the modern take for a boy should be “GI JOE” or something similar. If you look at this poem in a war context it seems as if you could rewrite this entire poem by simply replacing some words. Instead of being “presented with dolls that did pee-pee,” (991) it would be something like “guns that went rat-tat-tat and miniature tanks and army men.” Then upon graduation a classmate said: You have a duty to fulfill.
The second stanza could stay relatively the same aside from going to and fro apologizing—because I know boys don’t do that! Also some rewording could be used to describe the new soldier’s shooting skills.
Finally in the last stanza, the line that sticks out most to me is: “Her good nature wore out like a fan belt.”(991) How wonderfully descriptive! This seems like a timeless statement that could be applied to everybody in the world who has encountered stress in their lives to the point where they feel they can’t take it anymore (especially GI JOE). So they blew off his nose and legs and offered them up. This statement can be the most powerful anti-war slogan of the poem. This leads to the casket description where everyone says: Doesn’t he look like a hero? Freedom at last.

"Ozymandius"

Upon reading “Ozymandias,” by Percy Blythe Shelly, it is not difficult to see the connection Shelly makes between his well placed words and the theme of timelessness. The situation described in this poem is that of an ancient ruin, reclaimed by the sand. The subject of Egyptian rulers and their shrines defines the idea of immortality perfectly. There can be no question that vanity brought most of these rulers, not only Ramses II, to the assumption that building gigantic statues and monolithic temples would prove to the world that these people were great. The declaration, “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look at my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” (721) happens to come off as a pretty vain thing to say. Then the irony enters. Directly after this bold statement reads, “Nothing beside remains… the lone and level sands stretch far away.”(721) Ending the poem with those lines suggests that nature is the true “king of kings.” Nature will always and inevitably reclaim what we take from it. One can definitely understand how the use of imagery can become a powerful tool in poems.

"Barbie Doll-A Modern Take on the Female Experience"

Unfortunately, the social and parental pressures presented in Marge Piercy’s poem, “Barbie Doll,” are still common in today’s society. The name of the doll may have changed, but the pressure those dolls represent has not. The girl in this poem is pressured to conform to the expectations of her culture, which are often times unrealistic. She is a strong and healthy girl, but she is said to be too fat. Those around her expect her to diet and exercise, not as a way to make her healthier, but because she does not live up to their expectations. Barbies and Bratz encourage young girls to be something they are not and to conform to the images presented in pop culture. The poem used examples such as lipstick and GE stoves, but in today’s society we could insert images such as makeup, inappropriate clothing, and dyed hair. These unrealistic pressures we put on young girls are all too often too much to bear. The girl in “Barbie Doll” realizes that she will never live up to anyone’s expectations. Thus, she chooses to end her own life by getting rid of that which kept her from being “perfect.” This is an extreme case, but it shows the lasting effects of pressuring young children to be something they are not. Near the end of the poem the author writes, “Consummation at last” (24) when referring to the fact that as she lies in her coffin the girl is finally described as being beautiful. To me, this is the most dramatic line of the entire poem. What does it take for girls to feel that they are accepted? How far do we push children before they can no longer stand it? For this young girl, the pressure became too much, and the only way she knew how to be good enough was by ending her own life.

"Barbie Doll"

In the perspective of switching the poem "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy, into a poem that could be the replica, just in the life of a guy, this is what I would do; I would first change the title of the story to "Big Man on Campus". There is something that both guys and girls share in the 'growing up process', peer pressure, the norm and plain and simple wanting to fit in. The difference is in the methods. In "Barbie Dolls" the second stanza talks describes the girls' features, instead of "everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs" (11), for a guy it would be; everyone saw wirey arms on a puny frame. For guys, the peer pressure is focused on being 'jacked and tan', I don't think there is a good parallel from the initial comment, "Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: you have a great big nose and fat legs" (5,6). Guys aren't usually so hurt by comments like that, as the common girl would be. The thing I would present to readers (if I were to re-write this poem with a switch on genders) would entail something that establishes in the readers mind that would be easily related to by most any guy. Something that bothers each guy at one time or another. Only one thing comes to mind, pride. Pride is something that each guy needs to have something in, in general a guy will not pursue a sport that he is not good enough at to have pride in. When guys pick on eachother (and we all do) we usually are lambasing someone else' pride in the effort to enlarge our own. In regards to parents, many fathers find pride in the accomplishments of their son(s). If the fathers, find nothing, the son loses pride in himself, feeling like he let his father down. This type of diction would have to be conveyed in a poem about guys and the expectations and pressure that affects them.

Porphryria's Love

In the poem “Porphyria’s Lover” written by Robert Browning there is a good use of irony. The speaker in the story sees Porphyria as Vain. An example of this in the story is when the speaker states “From pride, and vainer ties dissever” (Browning, line 24). When in actuality he is the one who is vain and ends up killing her. He thought that she would be too weak to give her love to him forever and then he decided to kill her so that she will always be with him. The speaker can see how much she loves him. Her love for him is shown in the poem when the speaker states “She put my arm about her waist, And made her smooth white shoulder bare” (Browning, Lines 16 and 17). The speaker soon realizes that he loves her too and yet he kills her. He kills her so that she can be with him forever and never leave him. The speaker refers to her hair several times during the story and then he uses her hair to strangle her. It was ironic how when she had put his head on her shoulder he seemed bothered but when he had put her head on his shoulder he was happy and completely in love with her. Porphryia wanted the speaker to know how much love she had for him and that she wanted to give herself to him and in the end the speaker felt he had done her wish. This was shown in the statement “Porphyria’s love: she guessed not how Her darling one wish would be heard” (Browning, lines 56 and 57). The story did had good job of telling us what the speaker was saying about Porphryia but in the end he would do something different or feel different.

"My Last Duchess"

In "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning, the speaker of the story is probably a real person that lived in that time frame, but obviously a Duke from the 17th-ish century. Some say that it was probably Alfonso II, the duke of Ferrara, whose wife died early in their marriage. The speaker obviously has an obsessive personalality, "Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile?" (44,45). He wished his wife sought after him abundantly and no-one else (showing a need to be worshipped). He is telling some other person probably someone who is affiliated with a prospect of a future wife, "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call that peice a wonder[.]" (1,2,3) About this painting and gets side tracked, rambling on about his last wife's flaws: "too soon made glad" (22). This is obviously showing his frustation that all that he had done for his late wife, "My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name" (33) Wasn't fully appreciated. It's obvious about his character, that this Duke has serious pride issues and it's assumed (by me) that this 'listener' would not be impressed.

Barbie Doll

The Poem “Barbie Doll” by Mage Piercy was written in 1934. Since then there have been a few changes as far as Barbie dolls go. There are now many types of Barbie dolls that have many different looks to them. The newest type of Barbie doll is a bratz doll. There are also Kelly dolls as well as Ken dolls. This story could be changed quite a bit to fit with the world today. Instead of just being a blonde haired Barbie doll it could have black, red, brown hair. The hair colors may have changed but the Barbie doll is still skinny and beautiful. The Barbie dolls now-a-days even have different skin tones so that she may be light in color or have a darker skin color. Girls in this time frame do not necessarily still iron and use stoves like they used to in 1934. Instead today’s stereotype for girls may be that every girl loves to go shopping and more shoes than they will ever need. It is amazing to look at the poem and also see some of the same type of stereotypes for girls today. The cherry candy colored lipstick is still something that girls are associated with. Girls tend to be stereotyped for needing to wear makeup and do their take an hour getting their hair just right. This story really does a good job showing the types of stereotypes that females go through and the need to look perfect or else they will be made fun of!

My Last Duchess

The speaker in the poem “My Last Duchess” written by Robert Browning appears to be a selfish man. The speaker is talking in the poem to a person about marrying a counts daughter. The speaker tells the person about his last wife as a way to inform the person he is talking to about how he expects his new wife to act. The Dutch makes his last duchess seem like she was with many men and cheating on him. It’s hard to tell if she was actually cheating on him physically or if he just assumed that she was with the looks that she gave to other people. A really good example in the poem of this is when the speaker stated “She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. Sir, t’was all for one!” (Browning, lines 25 and 25). The Dutch saw himself as important and it really bothered him that she wasn’t grateful to be his wife. An example of this in the poem was when the speaker said “My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame This sort of trifling?” (Browning, lines 33, 34, and 35). These lines really show how arrogant this speaker is. He thinks that she should have felt honored to be with him. As arrogant as he was he was still easily a jealous person. If the duchess even gave someone the same smile that she had given to him he would assume there was more going on. This is shown in the poem when it says “Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! But thanked Somehow—I know not how” (Browning, lines 31 and 32). It seems that the speaker let who he was affect how he saw other people. Since he was a Dutch, he saw people has his own personal objects. This is shown when the speaker states “though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed At starting, is my object.” (Browning, lines 51 and 52). He strongly thought he was above everyone else.

Doe Season

Andy was a young and bright little girl who loved the thought of going out in the woods to go hunting with her father. The woods made her feel safe and at peace. It was somewhere she could go and still be a child. Andy had a way with animals, almost like they felt like she was one of them. Her father told the other men, "Animals-I don't know how she does it, but they come right up to her." (Kaplan 457) But, it was the moment when she actually shot the deer that everything seemed to change. She felt as though she had taken something from this poor helpless deer that she could never give back. When she knew that the deer was out there running around, "She couldn't bear to think of the doe in pain and frightened." While walking through the woods, Andy had thoughts in her head about the ocean, making it seem she was very frightened of it. "If you walked in it, something could pull you under and you'd never be seen again." (Kaplan 459) She knew that her mother was not afraid of being in the ocean because she was out swimming in it while Andy watched her from the sand. When the men were about to cut open the deer, the thoughts of the scary ocean came flooding back to her. She heard her mom yelling, "Come in, come in, while all around her roared the mocking of the terrible, now inevitable, sea." (Kaplan 467) In this very moment, she had to make the transition from a young, immature child to a mature adult.