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Poetry Analysis

Barbie Doll
by Marge Piercy
(1971)

1 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.
5 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.
10 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.
15 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

20 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.
25 To every woman a happy ending.
Marge Piercy
b. 1936

Marge Piercy was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a working-class family that had
been hard-hit by the Depression. Piercy was the first member of her family to attend
college, winning a scholarship to attend the University of Michigan. She received an
MA from Northwestern University. During the 1960s, Piercy was an organizer in
political movements like the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the
movement against the war in Vietnam, an engagement which has shaped her work
in myriad ways. Perhaps most importantly, though, has been Piercys sustained
involvement with feminism, Marxism and environmental thought. An extremely
prolific writer, Piercy has published 17 volumes of poetry and 17 novels. Her novels
generally address larger social concerns through sharply observed characters and
brisk plot lines. Though generally focused on issues such as class or culture, and
usually written from a feminist position, Piercys novels have taken on a variety of
guises, including historical fiction and science or speculative fiction. Her novel He,
She, and It (1991)published as Body of Glass in the UKwon that countrys
prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award; an earlier novel of speculative fiction, Woman
on the Edge of Time (1976) has been credited as the first work of cyber-punk.

Piercys poetry is known for its highly personal, often angry and very emotional
timbre. She writes a swift free verse that shows the same commitment to the social
and environmental issues that fill her novels. The Moon is Always Female (1980) is
considered a classic text of the feminist movement. Early Grrl (1999) collects
Piercys earliest work and includes some unpublished poems. Of the
autobiographical elements in her poetry, Piercy has said that although my major
impulse to autobiography has played itself out in poems rather than novels, I have
never made a distinction in working up my own experience and other people's. I
imagine I speak for a constituency, living and dead, and that I give utterance to
energy, experience, insight, words flowing from many lives. I have always desired
that my poems work for others. 'To Be of Use' is the title of one of my favorite
poems and one of my best-known books." Piercy has also written plays, several
volumes of nonfiction, a memoir, and has edited the anthology Early Ripening:
American Women's Poetry Now (1988). Increasingly interested in Jewish issues,
Piercy has also been poetry editor of Tikkun Magazine.
In 1971 Piercy moved to Cape Cod where she continues to live and work. She and
her husband, the novelist Ira Wood, run Leapfrog Press.

Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/marge-piercy