Welcome to my blog,
This blog is a response to a task assigned by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English (MKBU). This blog is about the 'Practical Criticism' by I.A. Richards.
Introduction:
The poem “A Work of Artifice” by Marge Piercy is about a bonsai tree that grew in its natural state with flaws that typically are not considered beautiful, but then, there was a gardener that came upon the tree that cut it down and change its natural state in order for the tree to become more beautiful, or without any flaws.
The poem : "Work of artificial " by Marge Percy
The bonsai tree
in the attractive pot
could have grown eighty feet tall
on the side of a mountain
till split by lightning.
But a gardener
carefully pruned it.
It is nine inches high.
Every day as he
whittles back the branches
the gardener croons,
‘It is your nature
to be small and cozy,
domestic and weak;
how lucky, little tree,
to have a pot to grow in’.
With living creatures
one must begin very early
to dwarf their growth:
the bound feet,
the crippled brain,
the hair in curlers,
the hands you
love to touch.
Basic understanding of this poem:
My interpretation of this poem starts with how society’s standard of “beauty” represents the subject of this poem. Throughout the years, beauty has been molded by what society believes what beauty should be. Society has this image of what women should look like such as skinny, beautiful face, long hair, and tall. I could go on and on about society’s standard of beauty, but to say the least, it knocks down all other women who do not conform to society’s idea of beauty.
Like the bonsai tree being split by lightening, a woman at her natural state has her imperfections whether it would be her scars or birthmarks, etc. Then the poem continues to say “But a gardener/carefully pruned it./It is nine inches high.” (6-8),which is when the gardener cut the tree so much to get rid of all of its “imperfections”. I interpret these lines to that of what society does to women. Society constantly tears down women just like the gardener tears down the tree. The gardener represents the society and the bonsai tree represents women. Both the gardener in the poem and society slanders women and “rebirths” them into something that they conceive as beautiful. Society “rebirths” women by telling that they should look a certain way, and how they look is not good enough or does not conform to society’s idea of beauty, just like in the poem when the gardener cuts down the bonsai.
Questions that arise in the first reading:
1. Who are the "living creatures" the poet talks about in the poem?
2. Here in this poem "one" means who
3. What does the poet want to convey through "bound feet" and "crippled brain"?
4. Who likes to touch whose hands?
5. What is the poet expressing with the mention of "hair in curls"?
Now let's try to justify the above problems in literal reading.
Justification of the questions:
Que 1: Here "living creatures" refers to the women to whom from very beginning men have been exploiting them.
Que 2: "One" can be interpreted as men as well as the society.
Que 3: Poet says that men have bound the feet of the women and imprisoned them in the homes and also made them blind followers of men so they can't think by themselves that is called "crippled brain".
Que 4: Men like to touch women's hands because they are very beautiful as women are taught to only take care of their beauty not anything else in satirical tone poet tries to convey this.
Que 5: As in above question mentioned that women are taught only to take care of the beauty not think by their own or do not talk back to men, "hair of curls" refers to the social conditioning of the concept of beauty that is imposed on women.
Aim of the poem:
the main idea projected in this poem through the metaphorical use of the bonsai tree is that stunning the growth of women is a clever trick played by men. The bonsai tree would have grown 'eighty feet high' of it had been left alone but was pruned and dwarfed for a particular role.
Thank you 😊.....
No comments:
Post a Comment