The first poem that I am going to discuss about is “I am not that woman” by Kishwar Naheed. The theme of this poem is that she’s not that woman. In the poem, the poet writes about the woman that she is not. In the first verse the tone is angry because she’s saying about things that she is not. The speaker in the poem is Maya Angelou because she is saying why she doesn’t like the way the women are treated in her culture.
There are no stanzas in the poem. The poet uses repetition to reinforce the message that she is trying to get across. For example the words “I am not that women” are repeated. In the poem the women would appear to be speaking to the people who think she is that women. She is angry because people in her religion are acting as if she is a slave
Naheed is arguing against the stereotype of a woman being obedient. The speaker in the poem tells us what she isn’t. For example she tells us that she isn’t
“The women selling you socks and shoes”
She also tells us that
“my light cannot be hidden in darkness”
By this she means that she is going to shine in the world despite all the pain and hurt she’s had in her life. Finally at the end of the poem the poet
is confident that she can “flower free”. By this she means that she can be free from all that’s happened to her in her life.
Naheed comments on the position on the position of the women in her culture. She says “nation of captive minds cannot be free.” This means that all the people who give her all the pain and hurt will never be free. She is speaking against the tradition of Asian culture. The speaker in the poem is angry about the way women in her culture are treated. Through reading this poem I have learned that Naheed feels really angry about the place in women in Asian culture.
The second poem that I am going to discuss about is “women work” by Maya Anlgelou. The theme of the poem is the work that the women have to do in her culture. The speaker in the poem is Maya Angelou. There are four stanzas in the poem and rhyming couplets are used in verse 1. The structure of the list of jobs reinforces what the women in the poem are trying to say. Angelous choice of words in the poem reflects its theme of women work, she uses words such as “I’ve got to” to describe the endless lists of chores because an absence of punctuation makes the reader breathless. It also emphasises the jobs the women have to do.
The poet uses alliteration in the title of the poem. This makes the title stand out and also sums up what the poem is about. Through reading this poem I have learned that May Angelou’s views womanhood as a role that they are treated like slaves. I have also learned that the poet doesn’t like the way the women in her culture has to do all the chores. I think that the most positive poem I have read is “women work” by Maya Angelou because it gives me a clear picture of the sort of jobs that she has to do in her daily life style.
