Poetics Essay

Nicholas Everage
Mr. Knight
ENG-113-02
4 May 2014 The Beauty of Literature Literature is a beautiful way of transferring feelings through words. Literature gives the writer an extraordinary amount of power when it comes to the formulation of a literary work. When writing an author has a plethora of techniques that can be used to not only make a point but also attract a reader. In works such as, A Raisin in the sun, The Sunset Limited, and Barbie Doll; the author(s) use one or more techniques to make their literature beautiful. Literature is not beautiful until an author has achieved mastery in creating chemistry between the ink and the reader. Once an author achieves this, literature has become subjectively beautiful. The Earth is a place of constant change. This change may be positive in nature and rather pessimistic at times. When an author reflects upon the present issues of today’s world, many are motivated to write and express their emotions. Normally this referred to as critique. According to the Webster’s Dictionary, critique is defined as “an article or essay criticizing a literary or other work; detailed evaluation; review.” One great example of this would be a poem titled Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy. Piercy has taken what is a pressing issue in today’s society and made it “hit home” for many readers. Starting off Piercy the reader how a seemingly normal baby girl is transformed and molded into the “perfect girlchild.” (1) Saying in part,
This girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy. (1-4) We can see that she is critiquing the upbringing of young girls in the world. This is important in literature because it will strike a reader right where it hurts, in the heart. Most people will overlook the pressing issues and hardships of the world until someone or something brings them to their attention. In a 2012 Interview, Billy Propst said that “The name carries a lot of meaning because a Barbie doll has long been an icon in society. Although it is a children’s toy, a Barbie doll exemplifies a woman with a perfect body exonerating beauty. This poem portrays a summary of a life since birth to the end of life at a funeral. The main character in the poem never had a chance to live life to the fullest because she was always trying to please others and be accepted. She never got the chance to be herself which led her to lead a life of unhappiness.” (n.pag) Piercy was not trying to shock the reader and simply scare them away from a harsh reality, but rather make them understand the gravity of a disvalued upbringing. By disvalued I mean that the parents have been influenced by the world’s normals and feel as if their daughter must conform to these standards. Another beautiful form of literature is one in which the author has used a balance of drama and humor. Humor can bring out the true dynamics of a situation. By dynamics, one thinks of motion and flow, well humor does just that and helps the work move along at a steady and consistent pace. In the Sunset Limited, Cormac McCarthy uses one or two moments of humor to make the play a bit more interesting. A scene that brings out the humor in black is the one where he is describing in detail the way that he had assaulted another inmate in prison. While to most this does not seem like a funny topic of discussion, in reality it brings out the true emotion of the scene. By exposing the emotion through humor McCarthy has succeeded in connecting the reader to the characters in the story creating an unbreakable connection that will last until the last page. Black who is the non-violent figure of the play would be least expected to have an outlandish such as this one, but its edition is a pleasant surprise. The addition of humor in any story can make or break the reader's feelings about the work, resulting in a positive or negative response. An author can succeed in utter

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