Poem Analysis
"Women" by Alice Walker is a poem about strong women. Walker says that this poem was written for her mother, who is an important woman in her life. Walkers mother was an African American slave, so it was extremely important for her to stay strong for her children and for her family. I think that this poem is trying to convey that women of her mothers generation had to be tough, but were also loving and caring at the same time. Line five says "With fists as well as / Hands." The fists represents the tough side of women, but the part about the hands shows that they still have a soft side. At the end of the poem it says that the women discovered books. I think that the end of this poem means that these women did not have much knowledge but they knew it was important for their children to be educated and have a better life than they did. Walker uses poetic devices in this poem. The first poetic device that I found was in lines 12-18. She used an implied metaphor to compare women to generals in the army that are tough and led soldiers into battle. An implied metaphor means that it was not directly stated but you are to imply what she is trying to say. In line seven I think that Walker used the doors that were battered down to represent things that women like her had to overcome. Like womens rights movements, and the end of slavery for African Americans. Another poetic device used in this poem is assonance. In line 10 it says "Starched White / Shirts." This line is using the repetition of the "S" sound. The last poetic device used in this poem is tone. When you read this poem out loud, there are certain stressed and unstressed syllables. This is a poem that I really liked. I cannot really relate to it because I'm white, but when I read this poem I feel like I understand exactly what these women had to go through. I enjoyed reviewing this poem and I look forward to reading more poems like this one.