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Poem Analysis – The Silence of Women by Liz Rosenberg
Rosenberg’s poem, the silence of women, brings out ideas of gender criticism. The whole poem talks about the growth of women vocally and increasing demands as they become old. The writer is of the opinion that women become more vocal and demanding with increase in age. This is because when young, they are forced to be quiet and pay attention to men and they have no choice. This is demonstrated in line six and seven, where the writer says, “A lifetime of yes has left them hissing bent as snakes”. They humble themselves completely before men. They cannot make any suggestions let alone making decisions. The poem describes the submissive nature of women as a traditional requirement. This though, changes with age. The roles of women switch with those of men. This interchange of roles is outlined in line (12) which says, “The chicken hatching back into the egg.”This means that men start behaving like small children. They listen and obey everything that the women demands. Line (5),”Sit there! And don’t you move,’’ clearly explains this change in men. In the last verse, the writer likens women to the new found voice with music.
The title of the poem, The Silence of Women relates to the entire poem. It explains how women live in silence for along time. This silence comes to an end with growth in age. The speaker is the voice of a poem. The speaker is not always the poem herself. The speaker is a character that the poet creates to speak for him indirectly. In this poem, the poet makes use of a narrative voice together with the voice of the angry, exhausted women to express how she feels about the way women are treated in the society. The poem was written at a time when women were so marginalized and only got to be heard when they grew old.
There is use of simile in the poem. This is seen in the line number six, where the nature of women always saying yes to everything is likened to being bent like snakes.”A lifetime of yes has left them hissing bent as snakes. “Simile is also used in the thirteenth line of the poem where the writer says, “Word scattered like a sibyl’s leaves.”The writer has also made use of stanzas in the writing of the poem. The poem has a total of three stanzas. The stanzas make the poem enjoyable to read. They also give the poem a rhythmic flow. They make it relatively easy to follow and understand the poem. They build on the flow of the poem. The writer has made use of metaphor and onomatopoeia in the fourteenth and fifteenth lines where she says that voice is thrown into a baritone storm-blown through an instrument. This is used to show how women are voiceless and even if they speak them hardly can be heard. The phrase, “The chicken hatching back into the egg”, is also a metaphor used to explain how men and women interchange their roles. Men become silent and the women begin talking and ruling men.
