Thursday, May 28, 2020
Gender and Nature in Alice Oswalds Daisy - Literature Essay Samples
In ââ¬ËDaisyââ¬â¢, Alice Oswald uses the evolving imagery of a narrator considering her actions towards a daisy to symbolise the meekness and conformity socially linked to womanhood- and the poemââ¬â¢s progressively aggressive tone mirrors her desire to reject these feminine ideals. Nonetheless, the constant focus on the image of a flower is able to portray the natural world as a beautiful force. In ââ¬ËDaisyââ¬â¢, Oswald uses the extended metaphor of a ââ¬Ëdaisyââ¬â¢ to symbolise social perceptions of femininity which are rejected by the narrator. The poem opens through the imperative ââ¬ËI will not meet that quiet childââ¬â¢ to immediately establish the poetââ¬â¢s discordance with social expectations of women to remain voiceless, with the poetââ¬â¢s decision to open through personal pronoun ââ¬ËIââ¬â¢ immediately defining the narratorââ¬â¢s sense of self, and the form of monologue can be seen to further reject these stereotypes through actively establishing an independent female voice. In the closing enjambment in which the persona states her desire to ââ¬Ëmake a lovely necklace out of her green bonesââ¬â¢, the diction choice ââ¬Ëlovely necklaceââ¬â¢ creates a satyrical tone to mock the public perception of women as obsessed with fashionable accessories, and the adjective ââ¬Ëgreenââ¬â¢ perhaps suggests that the daisy, thus by extension, the feminine stereotype, is sickly and therefore flawed, an idea made all the more imperative through movement into iambic pentameter. Indeed, the declarative ââ¬ËI will notââ¬â¢ is reformulated throughout the opening half of the poem in order to establish the personaââ¬â¢s resilience towards those expecting her to conform to the mould of femininity, and perhaps the most interesting example of this reads ââ¬ËI will not lie small enough under her halo/to smell its laundered frillsââ¬â¢. The diction choice ââ¬Ëhaloââ¬â¢ is particularly compelling as it dramatises the characterââ¬â¢s lack of compliance with the belief that women should remain pure and somewhat holy, and with the adjective ââ¬Ëlaunderedââ¬â¢- through connotations of household chores- the clause also can be seen to reject the stereotype of women as primarily housewives and carers of the home. Despite this, the poetââ¬â¢s decision to name the poem ââ¬ËDaisyââ¬â¢, which might reference both the flower and a female name, may hold unfortunate suggestions that women will never be able to escape the social expectations placed on them, and yet the narratorââ¬â¢s determination to do just that hold more compelling suggestions that she will be able to define her own identity: the poet writes \she is more/ summer-like more meek/ than I amââ¬â¢, and the personal pronoun ââ¬Ësheââ¬â¢ and ââ¬ËIââ¬â¢ are separated at opposite ends of the syntax to represent the distance between the persona and social perceptions on her feminine identity, with the alliterated ââ¬Ëmââ¬â¢ further establishing a distinctive and outgoing tone to the personaââ¬â¢s voice in contrast with the ââ¬Ëquiet[ness] she refuses to conform to. Nonetheless, the rich imagery of the poem allows it to be read as a testament to the beauty of nature. Indeed, the personification of the flower through personal pronoun ââ¬Ësheââ¬â¢, throughout the poem, coupled with Oswaldââ¬â¢s placement of the flowerââ¬â¢s name- ââ¬ËDaisyââ¬â¢- as the title elevates the flower, and by extension nature, to a high degree of power and prestige, which is enriched through descriptions such as the narratorââ¬â¢s assertion that she will not ââ¬Ëlet the slight whisperiness/ find out her friendlinessââ¬â¢. Here, the neologism coined by Oswald implies that the beauty of nature is almost indescribable thus new words must be made to illustrate it, with the movement from soft sibilance to gentle fricatives adding a musical cadence to the poem, thus marking out nature as a somewhat high art, which finds extreme expression as the narrator claims she will not ââ¬Ëopen my mouth among her choristersââ¬â¢. To use the metaphor of cho risters to describe the petals of the daisy, and to do so through emphatic alliteration, further adds to the poemââ¬â¢s sense of awe when talking of the natural world, and the form of enjambment and lack of sentence structure perhaps implies that the feeling of awe when surveying nature is not one that can be wholly merited in a mere single poem. There are contrasting semantic fields of transience and strength throughout the poem to portray the multiple forms in which the power of nature may manifest, and nowhere is this better demonstrated than the personaââ¬â¢s assertion that she will not ââ¬Ëlook her in her open eye/ or feel her hairy wiry strengthââ¬â¢, in which the image of an ââ¬Ëopen eyeââ¬â¢ is able to suggest the intellectual wisdom of nature, and the ââ¬Ëwiry strengthââ¬â¢ used to colour nature as an immense force of physical prowess. To conclude, Oswald, in ââ¬ËDaisyââ¬â¢, is able to both reject social ideals associated with femininity and capture the pure beauty of the natural world; perhaps suggesting that a discordance with societyââ¬â¢s view on womanhood would not leave her unable to appreciate the finer beauty of her natural surroundings.
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