Literary essay
Assignment #16
Poetry often seeks to stretch, to transgress, to not just push the envelope but to rip it in half and dance around in its confetti. From the sexual overtones in Whitman’s “Song of Myself” (In my opinion the greatest long form poem ever written by an American) to the overt homosexuality of Ginsberg’s “Howl,” poets have taken on taboo and controversial subjects. The mantra of “If it makes you uncomfortable, it’ll make you think” informs quite a bit about these works.
Kim Addonizio is a poet in that vein. Read “31 Year Old Lover” and “What Do Women Want?” and in two pages let me know how she violates cultural norms and taboos and by making us uncomfortable makes us think.
Here are the links: https://aprweb.org/poems/31-year-old-lover
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42520/what-do-women-want
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Literary Essay
What do women want?
The poem “What do women want? is a poem that explains what women need and crave for in our contemporary society. One of the ways how the poet has violated the taboos and cultural norms is by advocating for equality in society. In the course of the recent past, women have been standing for their rights in society as they want to have the same rights as men.
(614 words)