Sunday, April 17, 2011
What the mirror said
Continuing my liking for Lucille Clifton's poems, this week I chose her poem "What the mirror said." It was a short poem with an interesting structure. Looking at each line they are short and some lines only have one word. I think Clifton did that for a reason, that being that she had the most important or meaningful words by themselves. Clifton chose words like listen, women, girl, etc. as the words that stood alone. The word "listen" was repeated a few times throughout. That contributes to the overall meaning of the poem that Clifton was trying to bring forth, and that was that every woman is somebody, and is an important somebody, and to never let someone tell them otherwise. With the repetition of "listen" she is trying to grab the attention of the readers and say "Listen you are somebody, you are, you are!" This poem is obviously directed towards women, and it is no secret that for centuries women have not been treated the best, or seen as very important, and I think Clifton used this poem to reassure women that they are worthy, and nobody can tell a women otherwise. Clifton starts off the poem by describing a women as a wonder, and continues with relating a women to a map that needs directions because we are complicated. These lines I liked in particular, "listen, women, you not a no place anonymous girl." I liked this because it was telling every women that they will be somebody and that they are not a week little girl, but rather they are strong women. The last lines have a very distinct tone and addresses the anger that comes from abuse on women. "mister with his hands on you he got his hands on some damn body!" I think those lines are pretty powerful, for they bring a clear message that no matter how degrading a man is towards a woman and how ever many times they call a woman a nobody, that is never the case.... he has his hands on some damn body...and it's a women. At the end of the day, it was a short poem that has an interesting structure, but it has a clear message from Clifton.
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"...every woman is somebody, and is an important somebody, and to never let someone tell them otherwise."
ReplyDeleteLOVE. I think you hit this poem right on the head :) I absolutely adore this poem, and you totally have an awesome way of interpreting poems, I lovee itt!!!!
This poem and your analysis totally reminds me of the quote that goes like, "Feminism is the radical notion that women are people." :D
Perfect! Super! Neat-o! ;)
I inherited Langford's bumper sticker that says that! Great comments from Monique. I agree with her. You've done a nice job on this one.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about the treatment of women.
ReplyDeleteI do poetry responses for my college English class every week online. This poem struck my interest for many reasons. I wanted to look for some outside opinion before I endeavored to create a response of my own. Your response really got some ideas flowing for me.How you pointed out, I think Lucille Clifton has the short lines for a reason: to really highlight certain aspects of the poem like "you a wonder" or "listen". Speaking of the word listen, I'm sure you found it interesting as well that the mirror is saying "listen". Mirrors are typically for one to look into. The word mirror usually evokes the visual senses. But this mirror is telling the woman to "listen". That seems peculiar, but, as we all know, Lucille probably did not do that on accident. It catches the reader's attention. The word "listen" is repeated three times. It creates a tone of deeper analyses. I think Clifton wants women to look beyond the mirror. She wants women to look beyond the obvious. She wants women to not just settle for looking for compliments on outward appearances. I believe she wants a woman to listen deeply to hear the cars driving around with a "map" to understand her "geography". In other words, women need to explore their personalities and realize that no matter if "mister with his hands on you he got his hands on some damn body!" applies to you, especially if it applies to you, actually, then you need to realize that you are more than that. You are not just an item, you are a woman. You are "some damn body" and more people should respect that, even when some don't, so you should respect and love yourself, as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response and sparking some ideas for me!
~Kaitlyn Clifton~