"To a Daughter Leaving Home" By Linda Pastan

Linda Pastan lived a very normal life; she went to school where the main focus of the curriculum was ethics. Her knowledge of ethics later showed in her pieces of work. Pastan started a family and stopped writing for a while, but then in 1960 picked up writing again, publishing some of her best works.

In this poem, Linda Pastan writes about a small piece of a story in which the speaker is narrating. We know from lines one and two that the person who is being referred to by the speaker was much younger in the story being told. The situation of this poem is a speaker, probably a mother, speaking to her daughter about leaving and moving on with her life. The daughter acts as the direct audience of this poem, being the focus of the mother's concern. The poet creates a tone that shows a sense of longing or despair, causing the poem to create an effect that portrays a mother caring for her daughter and remembering a time in which the daughter was portraying a time of growth in her life. The significance within the context of this poem is the idea of remembering and sending someone off to a new chapter of their life. The mother demonstrates acts of care and concern for her daughter, that in my view point, seems to be leaving for college or moving out of the house for a specific reason. This poem reflects more situation than setting in its context, but based on the situation the setting would be several years ago, outside somewhere.

"Hanging Fire" By Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde considered herself a "black feminist lesbian mother poet" who wrote poetry to simply communicate with others. She expresses pride, love, anger, fear and personal survival in her work and has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant.

This poem is focused primarily on the troubling emotions of a teenage girl. The speaker, whom could be either the author or just a character who is speaking, describes a roller coaster of emotions she is experiencing in her life. By reading this poem, we can conclude the speaker is unhappy with herself and is going through troubling times. She feels "not good enough" for the people in her life and for herself. The author adds descriptive images for the speaker to talk about and use as support for why she is so angry and sad and confused. After reading about the author, it fits well with the poem that the speaker is most likely the poet, but the poet could also be writing about an actual experience she has witnessed. The speaker of the poem uses depressing language and even the verb "die" more than once, portraying the idea of suicide. It is clear in this poem, the speaker, whether it is the poet or a character, is going through or went through a rough patch of their life. The repeated line "and momma's in the bedroom, with the door closed.", represents both the fear the speaker is feeling and also the trapped emotions she is dealing with.

"Barbie Doll" By Marge Piercy

Marge Piercy was born in Detroit and suffered through the Depression. She became sick in her teenage years and during this time of all her sickness she put all her love into books. She was the first person in her family to go to college, and much of her writing highlights factors in our lives that are taken away from us or held back from us. 

In this poem, the topic is focused on young girls and their appearances. Looking deeper into it, we can see that the theme of this poem is the pressure young girls have to look perfect. The author uses comparison and imagery to help readers understand the pressure young girls have on themselves to look exactly how everyone believes they should look. For example, in lines 12-15, we get an idea of what it is like to be objectified to the point of wearing ourselves down to the point of wanting to commit self- harm. The author uses a tone that focuses on struggle and death to convey the theme's message. When we read this poem, we are able to visualize the way society controls women and their actions and choices. The poem contains descriptive words to characterize young women and the way they are viewed as imperfect to outsiders. In lines 20-25, it is clearly identified the only way women think they can cope with their pain and insecurities is through suicide or by giving into their sadness. This piece of writing should be a reminder for all young women to stay strong and for all people to get an idea of what being rude to other people could do to their life. The theme of this poem is accurately expressed through the tone of the author and holds a great message within it.

"To My Dear and Loving Husband" Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet was the first woman writer recognized as an accomplished New World Poet. She benefited greatly from the Elizabethan Tradition which focused mainly on female education; as we can see by her many writing accomplishments it truly did benefit her! Bradstreet's works reflect her religious and emotional experiences. 

 

 

This poem is focused mainly about love; we know that as soon we read the title. But the slower we read it, and the more times we do, we are able to find a bit more than a classic love between a man and woman. Anne Bradstreet uses passionate languages and rhyme schemes, which helps to portray the trouble she may have been going through while being in love with this man. She writes, "My love is such that rivers cannot quench,", which portrays a love in which their is pain and suffering that cannot be helped even in the most logical ways. At the same time, that line could also mean her love is so passionate and rare that not even the most similar kind could replace it. The title of this poem sets the tone and displays the focus. Bradstreet's emotional words and comparisons, such as, "I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,", demonstrate the intense feeling of love she had for her husband. Her use of punctuation, allows readers to pause at the right times so they fully understand the emotion she is writing with. With this poem, the slower and more time we give to the words, the more of an effect it will have on us. Not all poems give off intense feelings, but the way Bradstreet rhymes her words and repeats the words "love" and "live" ; readers can connect more easily to the poem.