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Essay on Acceptance Speech commentary

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The poem Acceptance Speech by Lynn Powell is about a housewife who feels undervalued by her family and by society. The title of the poem suggests that the character has received an award for achieving something brilliant, but in fact she is being sarcastic and conducting an imaginary award ceremony for herself in her kitchen, since no one else is willing to appreciate her hard work. The poet uses irony and personification of kitchen utensils and ingredients to add humour to the play. She uses the In this poem, the character deals with her desire to be appreciated by propelling herself into an imaginary scenario in her kitchen where she is in the spotlight and humorously personifies ingredients in food who are just as under appreciated as…show more content…
In contrast to her children, who simply “growl” at her when they are hungry, the ingredients in the kitchen actually assist her in making the “soup.” The “salt” is particularly important, as we only notice it when it is absent from food rather than when it is present. When it is not in the food, its omission is strongly reflected in the taste of the food. Hence, it is taken for granted. Similarly, this housewife is criminally underappreciated and if she was not around, her family would instantly feel her absence from the household. She also compares herself to “the celery and the parsnip”, who are regularly “forgotten” and seen as “bit players.” The housewife knows “exactly” this feeling, as she is similarly overlooked and seen as playing a more minor role in the household than the man, who is traditionally the breadwinner. Overall, although the poem is essentially a parody and uses plenty of humour, there is an overbearing feeling of underappreciation, loneliness and frustration towards her family on the part of the speaker. While at the beginning of the poem the speaker’s tone is mocking towards her family for having many expectations of her yet taking her for granted, at the end of the poem there is a sense of isolation, as the only “applause” she gets is the “blue” flame of the stove.

The structure is key to adding humour to this poem. For example, after the words “starring role” at the end of the second stanza, the reader expects something
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