AlyssaTighe

//"Sonnet: The Ladies' Home Journal"// by Sandra Gilbert (1984) Alyssa Tighe The brilliant stills of food, the cozy glossy, bygone life--mashed potatoes posing as whipped cream, a neat mom conjuring shapes from chaos, trimming the flame-- how we ached for all that, that dance of love in the living room, those paneled walls, that kitchen golden as the inside of a seed: how we leaned on those shiny columns of advice, stroking the //thank yous//, the firm thighs, the wise closets full of soap. > But even then we knew it was the lies we loved, the lies we wore like Dior coats, the clean-cut airtight lies that laid out our lives in black and white.

Way 1: First Impressions
My first impression of the poem is that it is about the false hope women get of a perfect life from magazines such as //The Ladies' Home Journal//. The first stanza talks about how perfect things seem according to the magazine and how the reader's "leaned" on that magazine with wishes of their lives being so "perfect" in a sense. The second stanza goes on to describe how the reader's realize that life can't be so "black and white" but it is chaotic and crazy and no one is perfect by any means.

The structure of the poem confuses me a little. I want to know why the second stanza starts with the first line indented. Also, I don't understand how the words "stroking...firm thighs" fit in with the rest of the poem. Maybe I am reading the words in a different manner than what the author means.

Way 2: Engaging With the Text
The repetition of the word lies makes it stand out. I think that the use of repetition helps the most to describe to the reader that what the magazine is about is all fairytale. It sounds so perfect and the readers love it, yet they know that it just a dream and most likely they will never be able to be like the people described in the magazine. THe repetition of the word "lies" also puts an emphasis on the fact that up until this point women have been living lies in that they aren't living equally, as the constitution states.

Way 3: A Point about Form and Its Relationship to Content
The point of the indent and new stanza is quite obvious. They start a new stanza because the tone of the poem changed. The first stanza describes the way society sees how women should be and makes it sound so extravagant and wonderful, but the second stanza seems to show a realization that things aren't great, that women are realizing it's a "lie" to live that way. They also emphasize the second stanza by inserting an indent. The use of the indent causes me to stop and think, think about the first stanza and everything I read already. The words "But even then" are that exact moment, that ah-ha moment when the text shows the realization that no, this may not be what women really want, that it is in fact, all a lie.

Way 3: Another Point about Form and Its relationship to Content
The repetition of the word lies is used as an emphasis of the word. It helps the readers to see how imperfect life actually is. How the speaker in the poem knows that what they read in magazines such as //The Ladies' Home Journal// is not always true. Life is not always rainbows and walks down easy street, and the magazine tells "lies."

Also, the repetition may be showing that society is lying. Society is saying, this is what women want, this is how women should be, but that's not always the case. Some women don't want what's described in the first stanza; they don't want the picturesque stereotypical way of life.

Way 4: Unpacking an Instance of Figurative Language
Here there is a metaphor comparing the kitchen to "the golden inside of a seed." By doing this, they are making the kitchen seem as though it is this rich place of life and love. It's like saying the home is a seed, but the kitchen, that is the center of the seed, the part where everything begins. Seeds grow with love and nurturing, and it is almost like saying that the kitchen is a place of love and nurture, things that are needed to make it grow, or as the saying goes "cooked with love."

Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
This type of figurative language is a simile. Here it is making the lies seem as though they are something to be proud of. The author is showing that the women who live lives like the one's described in //The Ladies' Home Journal// are lying to themselves. Just like women who wear dior coats, who are most likely rich, are making themselves out to be better than everyone else, when really it's a lie and they are no more important than the next person. It is also putting this label on women, saying that they need to be classy and that stereotypical stay at home mom who cooks, cleans, and takes care on the kids.

Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
This is an example of both symbolism and metaphor. Here they are saying that the advice given to them is like a column. Meaning that it is somehow holding them together. It is also symbolism in that the women need this column to hold their lives together. They feel as though without out these "columns of advice" their lives would crumble to pieces. These columns are the supports that keep their lives stable and structured.

Way 5: Analyzing the Setting
The poem seems to be a lyrical poem, an irregular ode to be exact. Therefore, there is an absence of setting within the piece (James & Yarbrough, 84)(Chick, setting discussion).

Way 6: Identifying and Analyzing Point of view
This poem is written in first-person point of view. The speaker in the piece is a reader of the magazine //The Ladies' Home Journal//. A normal mom, trying to fit into the mold of what the magazine considers a 'good' or 'everyday' mom. By the poem being written in first-person it lacks the ideas and thoughts of the writers of the magazine. It lacks the input of mom's who are able to be ther 'perfect' mom described in the magazine. If this poem had been written in a different point of view, we could have gotten insight from mom's who are able to juggle everything and handle it all with ease. We would have gained insight of how they are able to do this, as well as how the magazine isn't all a lie. We would, however, lose the creative language and the emphasis of how crazy it is for someone to think it is so easy for mom's/wives to be as perfect as the one's described in the magazine (James & Yarbrough, 63).

Way 7: Analyzing Complexity, Ambiguity, and Difficulty
The thing that confused me in this poem was the title. Throughout this entire project, within each step, I have been contributing this entire poem to the magazine //The Ladies Home Journal//. I have been thinking that the poem and the magazine go hand in hand, however I could be wrong. That is one thing I find difficult. Also, with structure, and I don't understand the indent between the first and second stanza. Some ambiguities within the poem that I found include comparing the lied the women read in a magazine to a Dior coat. This comparison could literally mean something like they wear knock-off Dior coats. It could also mean that the lies are so outrageous for some people to see possible that they are like a Dior coat--outrageously expensive.

Way 8: Considering Canonicity
This piece has aesthetic value through its use of language. Gilbert uses figurative language very creatively throughout the piece to make the poem seem as though it is describing something that everyday people wish. It is cultural in that it describes the culture of women today, trying to do everything perfectly and wishing that it were possible to be perfect. It is also cultural in that it is describing the struggle of the times, when women were trying to get out in the work place and be somebody, not just the mom or woman sitting at home waiting hand and foot on her family.

Way 9: Biographical Context
Sandra Gilbert is known for her research of women and their role in literature. She has written many books of criticism as well as short stories and poems. Her study of women and their role in literature may have something to do with the title of this poem. Also, she has a feminist view and that is reflected throughout this poem. Gilbert looks at society and their view of women in literature, however in her poetry, she may widen this to societies view of women in everyday life, as she does in this piece. Gilbert shows her knowledge and understanding of feminism throughout this poem, as it is strongly apparent. Also, her study of women in literature may have something to with the title of this piece. Ladies’ Home Journal is magazine written for women, and I would imagine, written dominantly by women. This poem seems to contradict the magazine though, in the sense that the magazine tells about women who are amazing wives and stay at home mother’s, but this piece is about women realizing that they don’t need to be stay at home mom’s to be amazing, they can go out and experience life just as men do. I think that is kind of interesting, whether she did it intentionally or I am reading into it more than need be (Wilson Biographies).

Way 10: Historical and Cultural Contexts
The 1980's were a time of great change for women. They were starting to take on more male dominated roles in society and realizing that they had choices and options about what to do with their lives. Little girls were no longer raised with it ingrained in their mind that when they grew up they had to stay at home take care of the family. They were encouraged to know that they could do whatever they wanted, and succeed at it just as easily as the next person. Ronald Reagan, one of the few presidents not supportive of the Equal Rights Amendment, wanted to help women achieve equal rights with other means. He made changes to laws making them more equal in an attempt to eliminate discrimination. This poem seems to reflect these changes and also the struggle women faced as they tried push through the changes for equal rights. The second stanza seems to show the struggle, where women realize that they can have these other opportunities, but it won't be easy, and they won't be looked at in the same light as men (Wikipedia.org).

Way 11: Theoretical Application
When looking at Gilbert’s piece using the feminist criticism, many of my original thoughts are deepened. The piece is about women and how they are viewed by society. Society states that women are to be moms and wives, nothing more. They are expected to be the ones who take care of the family while the man supports it. In the second stanza of the piece, when the tone changes, it is like women speaking out for themselves, saying that it is a “lie” that they don’t need to go by the book so to speak. However, with this realization come another, the realization that they will never be seen as equals to men in society, they will always be the lesser of the two, never good enough.

Some questions that a feminist critic might ask would be, what does the line “we knew it was lies we loved” mean? I would say that the answer to this would be: women had grown so accustomed to the way they were expected to live that they grew to “love it” or so they thought. They thought that it was what they wanted in their lives however, they began to realize that it was just something expected of them, not really something they wanted. They were lying to themselves.

Way 12: Another Theoretical Application
When looking at the piece using the New Critical approach, one should notice the use of words. Within the first stanza the words used to describe the life of women are all upbeat and exciting. Words that sound fun and desirable such as: “brilliant stills”, “cozy, glossy, bygone life”, and “dance of love.” As we venture into the second stanza, one can notice the use of more rigid. They make it seem as though your life can be lived one way, and that way is the right way, whether you like it or not. This is shown through words such as: “black and white” and “clean-cut airtight.”

The tone of the poem changes from the first stanza into the second stanza. A question could be: what would a new critic say about the reflection of the tone through the use of descriptive language? I think that the use of language changes not on the tone of the poem, but the whole outlook of the poem. It changes my thoughts of women in society as well as what it was like to be a woman in this time period. Times were changing, it was a time when women were discovering that there was more to life than sitting at home with the family and being a home-body.

Way 13: Unifying Interpretation
After fully researching the poem using different views I have a new and more complete interpretation of the piece. The poem is more than just words on a piece of paper, words describing a magazine. It has a hidden meaning that until about 11th or 12th way I didn’t fully understand. The use of ambiguities and metaphors adds greatly to the tone of the piece. Gilbert’s use of figurative language enhances the idea that the first stanza of the poem is intended to sound all wonderful, with the second stanza completely uncovering those lies that society has forced upon women.

After doing the biographical context of the piece, I learned that Gilbert was a strong participant of the feminist movement and women’s rights. This helps to understand the poem greatly. When I first began researching the poem I immediately thought that it was about this magazine, and the way they portray women as these perfect people, and basically only about how the media portrays women. Later I found out that it more about how women are seeing themselves in society and learning that they can do more, they are breaking out of their mold society and forced them into. The cultural context only reinforced my interpretation of the poem in this way. I now feel that I have a full and well researched understanding of the piece.