Essay on Language, Imagery, and Symbolism in To Be of Use

Use of Language, Imagery, and symbol to Develop the Theme of To Be of Use In the minds of most people, the manner of speaking, unenviable hold up unwrap and heavy labor carry a negative con nonation. What these words imply is not something that is generally welcomed with enthusiasm but is often legitimate either by force or obligation. Marge Piercys poem To Be of Use conveys an opposing connotation about the idea of work. The central proposition of the poem is that satisfaction, gratification, and self-fulfillment can be attained by utilize ones capabilities to serve a functional purpose in life, for it is the opinion of the loudspeaker that an idle existence has no value or significance because it is worthless, vain, futile, and pointless. Piercy uses nonliteral nomenclature, imagery, symbolism, description, and details to develop this theme throughout the poem. Piercy begins developing the theme in the first stanza by describing The type of people she loves the best ( 1). Piercy states that they jump into work repoint first/without dallying in the shallows... (2-3). With this imagery Piercy reveals that she admires individuals who are not afraid of work rather, they tackle their jobs head first/without dallying ( ) in other words, they are not lazy and do not delay or procrastinate the extremity of their duties. Piercy adds that the people she regards highly ... swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight (4). With this image Piercy indicates that these adored individuals work with so much impudence and diligence that often they become so busy that their work puts blank space between them and those with whom they associate or live. Further, Piercy declares that They seem to become natives of that element, / ... ... the fruits of a persons big(a) labor will linger to give honor to their memory subsequently their death. However, Piercy adds that they were made to be used to indicate that this wont be the case if a persons labor is not the fruitful productive type. Piercy concludes by stating that The pitcher cries for water system to carry and a person for work that is real (25-26). With this figurative language Piercy develops the theme by affirming that people need to be willing to work hard in order to reach the satisfaction of accomplishing something that is meaningful in their lives. In her poem, Piercy developed the theme of success through active affaire in hard work through her use of language. Works Cited Piercy, Marge. To Be of Use. Responding to Literature. 2nd ed. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Mountain View, CA Mayfield Publishing Company, 1996. 596.