In exploring the school namely “Women Resisting Convention”, It is evident that there are many ways in which the poets differ and speak without fear. With that being said, Nicole Alyssia’s Enter At Your Own Discretion gives the impression of being “cut from a different cloth” which is a stylistic approach that has been thought out well by Plath, Angelou, and Alyssia.
Nicole gives us a gripping introduction in her poem which is Enter At Your Own Discretion, one could argue that Alyssia is giving a warning to the reader or anyone who considers the conventional style a way of life. Looking at the larger scale of the poem, it is easily detectible that the free-verse poem contains minimal punctuation allowing it to look and feel modern as going against the conventional way is the modern way of thinking, the minimal punctuation used in the poem is a comma and two full stops. Alyssia embraces the image of how she is cut from a different cloth by only using capital letters throughout the title of the poem, it is known in the English language that the personal pronoun “I” is to be written in capital letters but Alyssia opposes that style of thinking by writing “I” in the lowercase format. Hence emphasizing the message that like-minded conventional thinkers are reminded to enter at their own discretion.
In connection with being “cut from a different cloth,” it is evident that Maya Angelou’s style of writing could be considered very similar to Alyssia’s style of writing, both of the ladies are for the stance of entering at your own discretion. Old Folks Laugh is a poem about old people who are no longer afraid to be themselves as they have been put in a bubble all their life and now they want to break societal stereotypes. Angelou uses descriptive sentences in how the old people no longer care, she says; “saliva glistens in the corners of their mouths”, “bellies rumble” and how they unleash “their hearty laughs” This poem highlights all the things society made us believe are wrong to do and Angelou uses old people in particular to highlight the hardships they have been through. Vividly Angelou allows the readers to believe that being cut from a different cloth is sometimes nice as you are allowed to truly express yourself in your final form.
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At first glance of the poem ‘Mushrooms’ by Sylvia Plath, one would assume that the poem is about the growth of mushrooms throughout a period of time. However, Sylvia did not make this poem so literal. This poem analyzes women and how they slowly and quietly started a revolution. The mushrooms are described as ‘perfectly voiceless’ which is a spot-on description as this poem is set in the 1950s and women at the time had little to no say. In that time, women were expected to follow their roles in society and not extend outside of that. This poem ties in well with the line of argument which is women resisting convention as Sylvia is using her medium to speak out.
Maya Angelou could be considered one of the forefront females who stood up against societal norms namely sexism. In her poem Still, I Rise she makes use of harsh diction from line 21-23 “You may shoot me with your words”, “You may cut me with your eyes” and lastly “You may kill me with your hatefulness” emphasizes the brutal punishment women went through in that era and Angelou resists convention by using poetry to speak out about the ill-treatment of females. Lots of imagery is created in this poem as Maya uses similies such as “like dust, I’ll rise.” this simile ties in very well with Nicole’s enter at your own discretion as dust is usually seen as unwanted, dry and dirty but no matter how much it is stepped on and disregarded dust will still remain, this ties in well with Nicole’s quote as this poem was made to make people feel uncomfortable about the power and force women bestow.
In addition, Angelou’s free verse poem addresses the matter of the Brave and Startling Truth. Angelou is making it clear that it is necessary for each person on earth to learn the brave truth she discusses in the poem. She refers to the earth as “small” and “lonely” to point out the area people make up is so small compared to the universe. She refers to people as “us” and “we” to show we are all the same and have demonic and angelic features and “we” must learn to grow together. This could be considered resisting convention as humans are all caught up in their bubbles and no longer know how to co-exist and it is necessary to face the truth and be aware of the fact that earth is a tiny molecule compared to the larger scale of existence.
It is evident that in the poems explored there is a prominent exploration of the unconventional manner of doing things. Although this is not written in the same manner. The poem’s messages still prevail. The dissimilarities bring in the extra touch of why being cut from a different cloth is so important and it creates a world of acceptance to the readers allowing us to grow in our exponential form overtime.
References
- Poetry Foundation – Women Resisting Convention
- Poetry Foundation – Madam and the Rent Man by Langston Hughes
- Poetry Foundation – On the Pulse of Morning by Maya Angelou
- Sylvia Plath’s PoemHunter page
- Oxford Dictionaries – The Spelling of “I”
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary – Conventional
- Plagiarism Detector – Check for Uniqueness
- Research Writing King – How to Write an Essay About Yourself
