The Secretary's Chant
Sophonie Ilera
Research & Literature
10/21/13
“The Secretary’s Chant,” by Margie Piercy explains the feeling of dehumanization for women in the workforce. I liked how the poem sounds like a machine is talking because it further expresses a secretary’s feelings of being an object rather than a person. The poem was written in 1936 when many women had secretary or desk jobs, so I am sure many women could relate to it. Piercy used humor well to describe a somewhat depressing time for women. While reading the poem I cannot help but picture this machine woman, and although it is funny, it is also is a symbol for how inappropriate and skewed women’s identities were in the 1930’s.
In this poem, woman working as a secretary is depicted as undervalued and unappreciated by her employer. With this poem being written in 1936, the idea of women in the workplace was fairly new. Women were not given equal treatment as employees and were in the beginning stages of their fight for equality. The year the poem was written most certainly plays an vital role in the poem’s tone, structure, diction, and theme. Throughout the poem, it is obvious that the secretary feels as if her job consumes her to the point where she is only seen as an object in the business in which she is employed rather than a human being or woman. The poet uses office materials to replace the secretary’s body parts, which further helps the reader to comprehend the extent to which the secretary feels degraded. In “The Secretary Chant” Piercy conveys her inner feelings of the secretary using several literary elements that help influence the theme of the poem including: metaphorical tone, onomatopoeia, repetition, and imagery.
The tone of the poem seems to be very monotonous and emotionless. The poem begins with the sentence “My hips are a desk” (Line1). This sentence gives off a very robotic tone for the poem due to its simplicity and short length of the sentence. The poet intentionally uses short and choppy
Research & Literature
10/21/13
“The Secretary’s Chant,” by Margie Piercy explains the feeling of dehumanization for women in the workforce. I liked how the poem sounds like a machine is talking because it further expresses a secretary’s feelings of being an object rather than a person. The poem was written in 1936 when many women had secretary or desk jobs, so I am sure many women could relate to it. Piercy used humor well to describe a somewhat depressing time for women. While reading the poem I cannot help but picture this machine woman, and although it is funny, it is also is a symbol for how inappropriate and skewed women’s identities were in the 1930’s.
In this poem, woman working as a secretary is depicted as undervalued and unappreciated by her employer. With this poem being written in 1936, the idea of women in the workplace was fairly new. Women were not given equal treatment as employees and were in the beginning stages of their fight for equality. The year the poem was written most certainly plays an vital role in the poem’s tone, structure, diction, and theme. Throughout the poem, it is obvious that the secretary feels as if her job consumes her to the point where she is only seen as an object in the business in which she is employed rather than a human being or woman. The poet uses office materials to replace the secretary’s body parts, which further helps the reader to comprehend the extent to which the secretary feels degraded. In “The Secretary Chant” Piercy conveys her inner feelings of the secretary using several literary elements that help influence the theme of the poem including: metaphorical tone, onomatopoeia, repetition, and imagery.
The tone of the poem seems to be very monotonous and emotionless. The poem begins with the sentence “My hips are a desk” (Line1). This sentence gives off a very robotic tone for the poem due to its simplicity and short length of the sentence. The poet intentionally uses short and choppy