Feminism: An Explication Of Shay Alexi's Song Of The Pretty Bird
Pretty Bird Feminism: An Explication of Shay Alexi’s “Song of the Pretty Bird.”
Summary-
Shay Alexi is an underground artist who is rising in popularity with her powerful slam poetry. In her poem, “Song of the Pretty Bird” the reader is put into the shoes of the ‘pretty pink bird’ in order for it to share its view; the view of a victim to the constant pressure of meeting society’s standards. In the first and second stanzas of the poem, the narrator reveals how she is constantly preening her feathers to make herself prettier, since that is all she believes she could be. They also reveal that, because she is pretty, ‘pigeons’ are constantly chasing after her while condeming the mediocre (lines 4-28). Towards the middle of the poem, the pink
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In the poem, the word “pretty” is repeated a total of 55 times (lines 1-68). This helps portray the narrator as someone who is extremely self-conscious and insecure. The poem also uses an extended metaphor to compare the pink bird with a woman. The metaphor is used to depict how women are objectified, like the pretty bird, and how they are expected to put down their interests in order to please men and yield to social norms (lines 1-68). Furthermore, “The Song of the Pretty Bird” mentions her adolescence by incorporating it into the poem’s hyperbole, “Baby bird could compose whole symphonies” (line 49). The author uses this line to make an exaggeration about the extreme change of the pretty bird’s current self and its past. It shows how, unlike the current pretty pink bird, her past self was smart and capable of doing many great things. Overall, the poetic devices integrated allow for us to share the bird's view and feelings.
Meaning/Theme-
“The Song of the Pretty Bird” is an extended metaphor used to, both, express the pressure of society’s beauty standards and the dichotomy of women not being able to be smart and pretty simultaneously. As stated by a presentation found in Prezi,a website used to make and display projects, ”the poem [is] about women's beauty standards and women feeling the need to appease men.” Formal Conclusion
Birds In Kate Chopin's The Awakening
304 Words | 2 PagesIn Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, birds symbolize Edna Pontellier’s journey toward ultimate freedom. In the beginning, birds represent Edna feeling trapped and oppressed. For instance, the opening of the novel includes a parrot in a cage squawking at Leonce to ‘go away.’
The Awakening Bird Analysis
967 Words | 4 PagesKate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening opens with a scene of two birds, emphasizing that the motif of birds later within the novel will play an important part with setting the constant metaphor they bring. Throughout the whole novel the motif of birds is a metaphor for the Victorian women during that period -- caged birds serve as reminders of Edna’s entrapment and the entrapment of Victorian women in general. Edna makes many attempts to escape her cage (husband, children, and society), but her efforts only take her into other cages, such as the pigeon house. Edna views this new home as a sign of her independence, but the pigeon house represents her inability to remove herself from her former life, due to the move being just “two steps away” (122).
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G Mcstrawl Figurative Language
283 Words | 2 PagesThe reason for the constant repetition is so that the author shows us that the mother doesn't want her daughter to do what swallows do, such as flying away and leaving to different places far away from her. The author wanted to repeat this metaphor more than once to show the reader how she really feels. Due to the specific words used in the poem
Examples Of Societal Standards In The Awakening
1624 Words | 7 PagesThe bird, representing Edna, foreshadows her one-way trip into the sea as it, with an injured wing, falls into the water just as Edna, with a damaged mind, walks into the sea. She feels as though suicide is the only way to find a reprieve from the gender standards that have been forced onto her. As she stands underneath the bright sun “[s]he felt like some new-born creature” signifying her awakening (120). Edna departs this world with dignity as she ultimately found her freedom
What Does The Bird Symbolize In A Jury Of Her Peers
912 Words | 4 PagesWith the use of these symbols, the author showed how the unfair treatment of women at the time, made it difficult for women to secede and break free from their husbands in the 20th century. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters found Mrs. Wright’s cage and pondered about whether or not she had a bird. Mrs. Hale said, “Maybe she did. She used to sing really pretty well herself.” The singing bird resembles Minnie Foster, caught in Mrs. Wrights cage, surrounded by an atmosphere that represents her miserable life, caged up by her husband, the one who has leverage over her joy, restricting her from blooming.
A Jury Of Her Peers Summary
592 Words | 3 PagesBird look innocent with an expression on the face and they look sweet like the birds saying take Minnie Foster were protecting her bird because the bird was like a child to her and it was her enjoyment. Birds are so protective of their child the minute you try to touch their kids they would hurt you in a heart bit without you knowing. They managed to get directly over their baby and drop food into their baby mouth, which immediately hollered like real mom would do. Minnie Foster feels like she had to protect the birds because the bird was her child.
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435 Words | 2 PagesThis represents the oppression of women and the destruction of their potential. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, the only two women on the scene, identify with the bird and empathize with its suffering, recognizing the parallel of their own confinement to their homes and society. This symbolizes the impact of patriarchal oppression on women's lives and the toll
How Does Kate Chopin Use Birds In The Awakening
1177 Words | 5 PagesThese long-suffering and self-sacrificial comparisons have demeaning connotations, ultimately projecting subservience and tractability onto women. One of the avian images concerns the mother-woman archetype, referenced on page 12. Chopin writes Edna's bitter soliloquy with descriptions of "[mother-women] fluttering around with extended, protecting wings [to guard] their precious brood" (12). The birdlike description of the ideal mother reinforces the feminine stereotype that Chopin presents through birds. Because Edna perceives mother-womanhood as a lonely, all-encompassing task, her train of thought is indubitably bitter.
Janice Mirikitani's Suicide
474 Words | 2 PagesI feel the sparrow in this poem represents the girl. She this “sparrow dazzled by the wind on the ledge.” It represents her ready to jump, knowing the air will not hold her, “the snow burdens her crippled
Symbolism And Motifs In The Awakening
835 Words | 4 PagesThe expectation of women in Edna’s class is to be pleasant and attentive to their husbands and children. Society shuns women who fail to fit into the correct stereotype. However, Edna’s husband, Léonce, and other men in her high society have freedom of movement and speech; they are free to complain, come, and go as they please. Before Edna’s journey with individualism begins, Léonce complains about the volume of a parrot, which symbolizes Edna; he criticizes its volume, a parallel to Edna’s outspokenness, and relocates to another room, a stark contrast to the physical and metaphorical cage that the parrot and Edna find themselves in, respectively (Chopin 43). The state of the wings on birds represents the strength to go beyond societal expectations.
Social Norms In The Awakening
802 Words | 4 PagesBirds are used as a symbol of freedom and Mademoiselle Reisz is trying to warn Edna of the risks that come with it. She must be prepared to be strong as she fights against the misogynistic ideas that she is being forced to uphold. She doesn’t want to attempt a goal that she won’t be able to achieve. Reisz says that Edna doesn’t dare to be an artist. To be someone who revolts and disregards her responsibilities, she must be more robust.
The Awakening Bird Symbolism Essay
791 Words | 4 PagesBirds are gifted with the extraordinary ability to fly. Their wings propel them above the ground and over people below. They are able to view the world from an angle that no one else gets to see. This is what makes birds and wings such powerful symbols in literature. These symbols characterize characters, move the plot and develop one more of the book’s ideas.
Caged Bird Analysis Essay
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Compare And Contrast Caged Bird And Sympathy
1215 Words | 5 PagesThe soft alliteration portrays how peaceful freedom is, “the wind stirs soft through the springing grass.” To be freed from the cage and being able to experience the world, the feeling of liberation, that's what freedom feels like. The bird started with freedom but ended up being caged. Freedom did not last long for the bird. In the first and last line of the stanza its creates a cage by repeating, “I know what the caged bird feels.”
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