Women’s Strength
It’s a powerful poem. It is a very strong poem that gives you a good idea of how different people feel. In a sense, the poem gives voice to those who cannot share their feelings alone. Alice Walker’s “A Woman is Not a Potted Plant”, is exactly what I have described. The poem contains many literary devices to engage readers. Alice Walker uses literary devices like metaphors, repetition, and transition to convey her views on strong women around the world.
“A Woman’s not a Plant in Pot”. The title alone tells a lot of what the poem is about. Alice Walker’s feminist tendencies are immediately apparent in the title. The title “A Woman is Not a Potted Plant”, if interpreted by the audience, would suggest that women can be independent and strong. The poem’s audience can tell from the beginning that it is a metaphor. This writing style is not just clever, but also inspiring. It forces the reader into a deep reflection on the subject. One of the strongest metaphors is the line “a woman/is the wilderness Unbounded”. Walker compares the woman to the wild to convey that she is untamed and has many talents, hence “unbounded”. Alice Walker wanted this repetition to be apparent throughout the entire poem. She said the same thing over and over again throughout the entire poem, “A woman is not a potted plant”. This repetition makes me appreciate women more for their work and personalities. It has made me appreciate women for their strength.
Alice Walker employs a literary technique in her poem that few people notice. Walker begins the poem by repeating, “A woman is not a potted plant”. This pattern becomes familiar to the audience until a certain part of the poem, when Walker returns to simply saying “A Woman is”. It is an effective literary technique. The transition is used to convey a strong message to an audience. Walker uses a transition to communicate not the opposite of a woman, but the true essence of a female. Walker’s use of this technique is what I most enjoyed. It opened my mind and gave me a fresh perspective. Sincerly, I did not realize the poem’s original message until the transition was revealed. The transition helped me to understand the poem. It made the metaphors more clear and I could hear the message.
Alice Walker’s poem uses three literary elements to send a message to those who do not yet appreciate women and what they can offer. The topic “A Woman isn’t a potted plant” was very powerful, and this poem did not disappoint. The purpose of this poem was to bring clarity to women who are blind to the work they do and to make proud those women around us. Alice Walker’s poem “A Woman is Not a potted plant” has raised the bar for all women.