"Marks" by Linda Pastan

Linda Pastan was born on May 27, 1932 in New York City. She is an American poet of Jewish background.


My husband gives me an A
for last night's supper,
an incomplete for my ironing,
a B plus in bed.
My son says I am average,
an average mother, but if
I put my mind to it
I could improve.
My daughter believes
in Pass/Fail and tells me
I pass. Wait 'til they learn
I'm dropping out.


The speaker is showing the audience how her family grades her on her motherly and wifely duties. The poem, as a whole, is an extended metaphor for how the speaker is judged. It is very clear that she is not pleased with the way she is always being critiqued by her family, just like anyone else would. The fact that she is using the metaphor of grades suggests her irritation further. There is no emotion in the speaker's words, which shows that she is so tired of serving others with no appreciation. The speaker also talks about three different grading systems that are used in schools. She uses language from school all the way till the end. She ends up giving into the metaphor that irritates her so much. Since her family treats her like a student, she can have the student's rights. She will be leaving the family or "dropping out".

"Marks" is a one stanza, free verse poem. There is no rhyme scheme, but there is enjambment in a few lines. Linda Pastan uses enjambment in this poem to add some rhythm and to also help the readers continue thinking about the idea talked about in the previous line.

The extended metaphor is comparing life to school. In this poem specifically, life as a housewife, but we are always being judged, in everything we do. At any job our boss is constantly looking out and "grading" us. In our everyday actions people are always watching and judging us. If we were kind to someone we get an A, but if we were rude we could Fail. Not only are other people watching, but God as well. He is the almighty judge who gives us the grades that matter.

"Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy

Marge Piercy was born on March 31, 1936 in Detroit. :) Piercy says that her mother was the reason she became a poet. She "doesn't understand writers who complain about writing, not because it is easy for her but because it is so absorbing that she can imagine nothing more consuming and exciting at which to labor."
http://margepiercy.com/about-marge/biography/

This girlchild was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs. 

She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs. 

She was advised to play coy,
exhorted to come on hearty,
exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.
Her good nature wore out
like a fan belt.
So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up. 

In the casket displayed on satin she lay
with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,
a turned-up putty nose,
dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending. 

"Barbie Doll" is a well-structured, four stanza poem. Marge Piercy is showing her strong feminist opinions through the girl in the poem. 

The poem starts out like any other story from a young girl's childhood. She has dolls and lipstick. Everything seems great until she hits puberty. In a typical girl's world, puberty starts at thirteen and that is when everything changes. Instead of being friends with everyone in your class, the girls are judged by their looks, and their faults are now pointed out. Then the speaker goes on to say that even though the girl was smart, kind, and in every way normal, just because she had a big nose and fat legs she was looked down upon. Soon, all the pressures got to her and she got a new nose and new legs legs. Even then, the girl was not happy until her death. All the people who judged her for her looks when she was alive finally said she looked pretty in her casket. She finally looked beautiful, when she did not even look like herself with all the makeup the undertaker put on her. 

The tone Piercy uses is very sarcastic and sympathetic. She wants her readers to understand that these kind of opinions about young women are not okay. Every girl is beautiful and should not be judged just because they do not look absolutely perfect, because let's be honest, who does? 

There is no rhyme or meter in this poem. In the seventies people wanted to be free; some think that is why Piercy chose to write in free verse. Also, she is talking about how girls should not be constricted to the "norm" of being beautiful, so that's why she did not want a strict form. There is also a lot of enjambment, where lines run on into the next. She also made the poem more like a story so that her audience would not get distracted by the rhymes and structure, but be more focused on the important lesson of the poem.