Clifton's Poem 'Homage To My Hips'

“The Declarations of Sentiments and Resolutions” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton is an interesting and persuasive essay on women's rights and equality. The essay uses pathos, logos, and ethos to capture the reader's attention and draw them in into this argumentative piece. Each appeal deeply exercises the importance of equality for both men and women. Throughout her essay, Stanton uses pathos, logos, and ethos to draw the reader's attention and persuade them to stand up for women inequality.

In the beginning of this vignette, Esperanza, Nenny, Lucy, and Rachel are jump roping one day. They start improvising about hips: what it means to have them, what they can be used for, where they can take you, etc. Rachel says that hips are good for propping up babies when you’re busy, Lucy says you need them for dancing, and Nenny says if you don’t get them you might become a man. Esperanza thinks Nenny is being stupid and immature, but defends her because she’s her sister, then reiterates a scientific explanation of hips that she heard from Alicia. Esperanza believes that hips are musical. The girls then start to make up rhymes about hips while dancing and jumping rope. The voice the Esperanza uses around her friends is not as poetic or lyrically

The women’s rights movement of the 1970s and the push for gender equality have inspired many people from all around the world. Nancy Senior, a Canadian poet, explains the desire for this movement in one of her works. As a poet, more specifically, she has the potential to define it with her theme and use of figurative language. Nancy Senior used satire as a means to convey a message about women’s rights during the 1970s in her poem, “St. George.”

In both poems “Barbie Doll’ and “homage to my hips” the speakers focused on the same idea but had different ways of expressing those ideas. In the poem “Barbie Doll” written by Marge Piercy shows how a young girl is affected by the idea of a “perfect” body that society thinks a girl should have. A Barbie doll is a toy that young girls play with. Barbie is an unrealistic way of how a young girl should look and can ultimately lower one’s self-esteem. The company that makes Barbie decided that it would be beneficial for young girls to see the different body images one can have. On the other hand, in the poem “homage to my hips” the speaker Lucille Clifton is proud and appreciative of her hips. She is able to go against the standard norm of how society wants girls to look and gives her hips the importance that they are actual people themselves. Although “Barbie Doll” and “homage to my hips” have a similar theme while the poets used a different structure and literary devices to portray how society sees a young girls’ body image.

Louise Halfe’s “Body Politics” challenges the qualities and behaviour of the idealized feminine woman by contrasting the stereotypical “city woman” with a more masculine “real woman.” The poem’s speaker describes her mother’s opinion of what it means to be a real woman, which is seen through “Mama said.” Throughout the poem, the speaker uses vivid imagery to create a stark contrast between the idealized feminine “city woman” and a “real woman” who does not conform to the feminine gender norm. To begin with, the title of the poem itself can be viewed as an obvious critique of the feminine ideal. By definition a body politic is a group of people “considered as a collective unit” (Merriam-Webster). This is significant because in Butler’s theory, she emphasizes that a person’s gender can vary depending on a given situation, and therefore women cannot be grouped together and defined exclusively by their feminine qualities. Instead, she argues that women should be viewed as individuals capable of possessing both masculine and feminine behaviour. This belief relates directly to the poem’s title, as Halfe is clearly making a statement on the manner in which patriarchal societies expect women to conform to a singular feminine ideal. Moreover, it illustrates how women’s bodies become a political site for the masculinist culture to impose feminine gender on. With consideration to the title’s reference to a homogeneous group of women, it is interesting that stanzas two through four all

Another literary device that Lucille Clifton used in the poem was the literary device of repetition. By using repetition, Lucille Clifton emphasized the size of the hips and their power. Throughout the poem the speaker repeatedly said,” These hips…, They want…, They need..., They do…, and They go…” An example of this was when the speaker said,” …these hips/ are free hips. / they don’t like to be held back. / (6-7). In this quote, the speaker was saying that she is free, and that people cannot stop her from doing what she wants. The speaker tried to show women that they should not let anything stop them from doing what they want and that they should

It is imperative to go through each authors works and understand why they did what they did and how it affected the people around them. First, I will discuss Duncan and the early 1900’s (creative expression and suffrage). I’ll talk about how Duncan used nude dancing as a form of art to express freedom and democracy for women. To analyze Duncan and her approach, I will use My Life, Duncan’s autobiography, “My Idea of Dancing” and “The Freedom of Woman”. Next, I will ’ll move into Baldwin and the Civil Right’s Movement in the 1960’s. I’ll

While reading both “On Growing Up Between Genders”, by Stephen Burt and “The Female Body” by Margaret Atwood, I was so moved by both poets writing that I felt as though I was living their experiences with them. Throughout the course of both pieces, I felt emotionally drawn to obstacles of both writers, while understanding their wants of an experience very different from the ones previously given to them.

The society always queries about the role of women and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was remarkably negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfil the domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: “During the first half of the 19th century, women 's roles in society evolved in the areas of occupational, moral, and social reform. Through efforts such as factory movements, social reform, and women 's rights, their aims were realized and foundations for further reform were established” (Lauter 1406). Feminist poets like Emily Dickinson and Anne Bradstreet talked substantially about feminism in different lights in the past two centuries. They were very vocal and assertive about their rights and the ‘rights for women’ in general. While they might have been successful at making a good attempt to obliterate gender biases but still there are lot of disparities between the two genders. Nevertheless, their poetry reflects a deep angst.

The novel Anthem illustrates women in an inferior light, demeaning their importance and value to the world. Ayn Rand creates woman as a creature to lick the dust from the soles of man’s feet, and to endure anything he

Style expresses, “The poem protests the women's exclusion from national history even as it insists on her centrality to it. Clifton is saying that women have a voice in this, too. It is not just the men that can contribute to the cultural identity of the colored. Clifton is exhibiting here that a ‘master’ does not have to be someone white, male, or european. It’s time to start creating our own masters for a new

Life is full of unexpected changes, advancements and insights. People will look at life through different lenses as they age. However, some social norms will be unwavering. Social norms, such as women being considered the weaker ones in society, have been around for a long time. Hilda Doolittle explores what it means to be a woman in society in her poem “Eurydice”. She alludes to the Orpheus myth and modifies Eurydice’s character from passive to strong to show that women can be resilient and independent even if men try to use women to glorify themselves and even if society tries to downplay women. Doolittle does this through her diction, symbolism and imagery of flowers and colors.

Adrienne Rich's poetry serves a prophetic function by articulating the history and ideals of the feminist struggle. By recalling the ancient chthonic mysteries of blood and birth, by reconnecting daughters with their mothers, by drawing parallels between women today and their historical counterparts, and by envisioning the women of the future who will emerge from the feminist struggle, her poetry celebrates women's strength and possibilities. Elaborating her vision, Rich brings a nurturing ethos to her analysis of social priorities:

The role of women in the society is always questioned and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was extremely negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfill domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: “During the first half of the 19th century, women 's roles in society evolved in the areas of occupational, moral, and social reform. Through efforts such as factory movements, social reform, and women 's rights, their aims were realized and foundations for further reform were established” (Lauter 1406). Feminist poets like Emily Dickinson and Anne Bradstreet talked substantially about feminism in different lights in the past two centuries. They were very vocal and assertive about their rights and the ‘rights for women’ in general. While they might have been successful at making a good attempt to obliterate gender biases but still there are lot of disparities between the two genders. Nevertheless, their poetry reflects a deep angst.

The first poem in the collection is called ‘Body of a Woman’ and being the opening poem, it holds the responsibility of giving the reader an overall appearance of the collection as a whole. This is because this is the first impression the reader sees when opening the book and that imprints itself into the reader’s mind. The persona of the poem is presented as possessive and dominant. This is