Women Move In Poetic Unison

Women Move In Poetic Unison

During the Women’s Movement, women were trying to shed the layers of oppression that their mothers and grandmothers were so accustomed to being scrutinized by. A woman was supposed to be an extension of a man, there to make life easier for him, conferring with his decisions and opinions, not having an opposing point of view or desires of her own. Through the publicity that came with Sylvia Plath’s marriage to Ted Hughes and her strictly structured but revealing words, women started to realize that they were not alone in feeling overwhelmed as adults and that they were allowed to feel this way. As time progressed on more and more women started to voice their disagreement with having to be bound to the house all day and night with little ability to pursue things they were interested in, which amongst many things one happened to be other women. Marilyn Hacker beautifully illustrated the allure that women possessed and that other women were finally starting to become openly fascinated within a structure that mimics the looser standards women were starting to adhere to. By the time the 1980s came around Jana Harris’s summarization of how women were taking every inch and running miles with them was a completely justified summarization. Structure was becoming a long distant memory as future generations put themselves out there in what was becoming an overly loose morale way of self-expression. The Women’s Movement stood for so much with regards to the freedom of women however, much like with anything, too much of one thing becomes just as bad as too much of something else and the balance is still lost. All three women had a collective stance that they wanted to be able to think for themselves and do as they pleased but in each poem, I analyze below it can be clearly seen that there is a strong progression in thought process throughout the years pushing the movement to an extreme that far exceeds where movement originators thought it would go. 

The Applicant by Sylvia Plath that was written on October 11th, in 1962 described the transitioning female so well. In this poem, it was her clever way of making women the applicant to men in such a sarcastic way that made the point about how women are changing so strong. "My boy, it's your last resort./ Will you marry it, marry it, marry it." (39-40) which is located on page 2 in Poems from the Women's Movement edited by Honor Moore. In those two lines, Plath didn't even end it with a question is in the 1960s there was no question that the man would marry, marry, marry his last resort. While most of the lines are transferable from decade to decade, when she rattles off a woman's symbolic qualifications as "It can sew, it can cook/It can talk, talk, talk." the reader could use that to date it back as women today have a different list of symbolic qualifications that would probably be stated instead of number one sew, number two cook and three four and five talking. Plath built her theme on the fact that women were entering the workforce and being interviewed primarily by the men who owned the companies. Plath accompanied this theme with a traditional style of 5 line stanzas in what seems to be an effort to say it was a traditional woman who was being forced to apply for the job of wife much like they were having to apply for jobs. 

In "Elegy" by Marilyn Hacker found on pages 113-116 a dedication to Janis Joplin was made which dates the piece within the '70s, "velvet, Janis, you/ overpaid your/ dues, damn it, why are you dead?" (26-28). "I wanted to write your/ blues, Janis, and put my/ tongue in your mouth that way." (71-73) As its historical backdrop is that of symbolic Janis Joplin with references made to random traveling, drugs and as I quoted the desire to love one another freely regardless of sexual preference the difference can be noted that from the '60s women are pulling even further away from wanting to be a part of an "applicant" process. While both Plath and Hacker write about the changes in the thought process of a woman's mind, there is a significant difference how Hacker portrays the random thoughts women are now having, although still conformed to a set 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 10 structure she breaks each line at specific yet random places allowing the style to shine brighter than the uniformity. Plath wrote with complete uniformity that was still mostly standard in woman's thinking in the '60s.   

In "Don't Cheapen Yourself" by Jana Harris found on page 170, we are presented with the contradiction that became symbolic of the 1980s, paying to look cheap. Harris presents us with "three-inch platform sandals/ and this I. Magnin snake dress?" (9,10) and "college prep or a pointy bra,/ ratting a bubble haircut/ with a toilet brush." (16-18) which lays the historical backdrop for the sentiment that people thought women of the prior generations thought the younger generation was going overboard saying "You look like a skag" (26). By using these terms as symbolic references to the time period she was able to capture the significant difference that was taking place from the uniformity of thought displayed in Plath's poetry and then the free form thinking in Hacker's poetry to the narrowed this is who I am thinking of the '80s in Harris's poetry. Which, prior to the 1960s women were actually cheapening themselves due to their lack of a voice. They were the ones who were being allowed to be put in a position to have to apply to have a husband. After the 1960's women may have started to show more skin and do things their male counterparts thought of as uncharacteristic, but those things were not ever what made a woman cheap, quite the opposite, "You got any idea/ how much it costs/ to do cheap these days?" (5-7). While “ma” had a standard of “Shakespeare” and “college prep” thinking that lingered from her generation making “three-inch platform sandals”, “Magnin snake dress”, “red waxed lips” and “pointy bra” look cheap to her, how one looked actually had nothing to do with the value of one’s self. Which, while it was taken to the extreme by people like Madonna with her “pointy bra” that sent mixed signals to the unmoved male mind, it still expressed the point that the value one is given should come from within, not materialistically. Women in the ’80s were so proud to be “doin' cheap” that they didn’t realize the actual message that was being received by their male counterparts, and if they did realize they were so intent on their mission they dismissed the confusion. 

Within the theme of liberating women, we see the gradual decade change that enabled women to be more expressive in thought and action giving each poem a less uniform order but still a hard hit at just what was going on and being achieved. Though thirty years later women are still trying to move male-dominated societies to be more equal in their thinking we are still making progress though slow it is steady. All three women Plath, Hacker, and Harris opened and continued to hold the door open for women of all kinds to find their way through on their journey to bettering the equality of human life for all future generations. They each had their own form and their own idea of what freedom from oppression was but their points of becoming free from oppression remained consistent. Though as times have changed and progressed on and we have realized that everything is subjective to a personal perspective it’s hard to completely understand anyone’s true thoughts because we mask the literal in veils of rhythmic and lyrical verses instead of speaking clearly of how we want to be treated. However as long as we keep making steady progress and keep making ourselves more and more clear with time, eventually a mutual equality should be achieved and all will not be for naught. 

Works Cited:

• Moore, Honor. Poems from the Women's Movement. American Poets Project The Library of America. 2009. Pgs. 1, 2, 113-116, 170, 171.   

Understanding "Sing for Freedom. The Story of the Civil Rights Movements Through Its Song" by Carawan, Guy, and Candy

        Civil Rights historical legacies root themselves in social injustices that occurred to African American individuals throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Singing roots itself back to a date not specifically known by any human record. It is widely known that social injustices are cruel in nature and aim to harm those they are being projected at. Singing, however, is widely known to have stress-releasing endorphins that soothe and calm the anxieties of the person singing and have a rejoicing, affiliating power to those listening. Within these two realms, one experiencing cruel social injustices could find considerable solace in singing about the hard times with those experiencing the same sorts of harsh realities. In doing so a bond gets created that carries on through song through many generations. Specific wording allows these songs to become specific to their group of suffers. The wording doesn’t create interference in their succession to the future though it does hold close to its past roots, instead, it creates a bridge that connects future generations to the reasons our nation is the way it is today. I will use “Ballad For Bill Moore” and “Why Was The Darkie Born” from the book Sing For Freedom to illustrate this assessment.

        Back in the day, there was no advanced technology that allowed us to stream live posts of prejudicial and discriminating acts as they were happening, instead, those who felt wronged would sing about it. Newspapers were not interested in printing how many men and women who died due to prejudicial reasoning, not all news mattered as not all lives mattered. So it was interesting that “Ballad For Bill Moore” words by Don West (found on page 95) was sung, but not unusual, Bill Moore was a man who believed in equality and died for that belief, although his skin color was white. “The lyncher’s bullets know no color/ As they come whining thru the night/ They’ve brought death to many a Negro/ And William Moore whose skin was white.” (Chorus 3) This was equivalent to the morning news when workers would start their day. One person started to sing the lyrics of the happenings around them and others working near would start to sing along; word of mouth was at work in its finest hours. This was a song binding its legacy to the historical slavery origins by stating within its lyrics that Bill Moore “… walked for peace, he walked for freedom/ He walked for truth, he walked for right,/ End segregation in this country/Eat at Joe’s, both black and white.” (Chorus 7). These songs were a testament to what was going on in the world as they knew it. They were songs that had powerful word combinations that gave strength to their feelings of overwhelming injustice.

        It was as important then as it is now for people of any DNA make-up to get out how they felt and it has always been true that humans have a need for affiliation with other humans, so it is no wonder that less fortunate people of a less fortunate time would do whatever they could, which happened to be singing. They sang sweet and they sang low, they sang with passion and they sang with a beat, it made the day go by and it made the hard times a smidge less hard, it even made explaining the fate they were dealt a little less harsh. In “Why Was The Darkie Born?” by James Bevel and Bernice Reagon (found on page 154) it is portrayed that a young child is asking its mother why were dark-skinned babies born and the mother gives an honest reply, “Somebody had to pick the cotton/ Somebody had to pull the corn/ somebody had to build a great nation/ and that’s why the darkie was a-born” (Line 3-6). Truth that was riddled with discrimination and prejudice so much that it became traditional for them to sing their feelings in an effort to cope. By the written account of the history of this time period, it seems to be the one thing that they were, to a larger than normal extent, allowed to have as they worked; so they took this inch of slack and ran a mile with it embedding it into their culture. In this song, its reference to picking cotton and pulling the corn was part of its legacy to the historical slavery origins. Also by stating within its last stanza “Come here my little baby,/ Sit on your mama’s knee/ And I will try to tell you/ Why your Ma ain’t free.” (53-56) we know this is an attempt to cope with slavery, an attempt to accept it through explanation. It is always the case that what we try to justify through our best attempts at common sense explanation what we feel is wrong or don’t understand in an effort to soften the feelings of injustice.

        Without such telling lyrics and rhythmic poetic beats, these songs would simply be stories that would get changed throughout the years by horrible word of mouth gossip. These two songs, like many others, work well to remind future generations of all the struggles and harsh realities that came before them to ensure a better tomorrow.



                                                                         Work Cited:

• Carawan, Guy, and Candy. Sing for Freedom. The Story of the Civil Rights Movements Through Its Song. New South Books. 2007. Pgs. 95, 154.