William Shakespeare, "Sonnet 130"

William Shakespeare, "Sonnet 130" is very different then a lot of love poems written around his time, and a lot of love poems he wrote himself. In "Sonnet 130" Shakespeare writes about a love he has with his mistress, a real and true love, one that doesn't need to be disguised by artificial comparisons and flashy metaphors. At first it seems that Shakespeares doesn’t even love or like his mistress and you begin to feel sorry for her as he refuses to compare her to anything beautiful; “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; coral is far more red than her lip’s red…But no such roses see I in her cheeks”.
Later in the sonnet you realize that he really does love his mistress and he finds her beauty to be completely in her and with no comparison to anything else. He writes, “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare [exceptional], As any she belied [any woman misrepresented] with false compare”. I really love this poem and think Shakespeare’s honesty is what makes this poem so oddly romantic. I think this is one of the best poems I have read in our book so far and I really love how this poem points out how much better and more relatable poems are when the poet isn’t just trying to be “fancy” and put obsolete words in their poems just to make them sound pretty.

Marge Piercy, "Barbie Doll"

Marge Piercy's poem is quite depressing in its description of a young girl and the pressure of society. Everything about this story is upsetting. At the same time, nothing about it is unusual. Her depiction of a normal girl growing up and trying to fit the stereotype of what is "feminine" and "beautiful" is sad, scary, and anything but fiction. In our society it has become normal for a girl to be overly concerned with how she looks and what other people think of her. Eating disorders as an epidemic are growing at a frightfully rapid pace. In her poem, Piercy writes, "This girlchild was born as usual, and presented dolls that did pee-pee, and miniature GE stove and irons, and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy". This line alone shows how, as soon as a child is born they are immediately forced into gender stereotypes with certain expectations. All of the sudden the girl gets to a certain age when she realize she may not perfectly fit these stereotypes of what is the “perfect” female. Despite all of her redeeming qualities everyone only sees “fat nose and thick legs”, or at least that is how she feels. The end is the most upsetting part, when she feels as if she can do nothing more except kill herself, cutting off her nose and legs first. Although, this may not be a literal death, but only a symbolic death; showing that some women will go as far as destroying every part of themselves that is really them. Finally, she is dead and every part of her that is real is gone, only now is she considered “pretty” and finally everyone is happy. The overall vibe in this poem is definitely somber. I think this is a very important poem though and I really appreciate how effectively Piercy got her points across. Themes like the ones in “Barbie Doll” are often hard to address and most of the time avoided, so as upsetting as this poem is, it is also refreshing to see these issues being brought to the surface.