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‘To be of use’ by Marge Piercy depicts one speaker’s preference to be around those who work hard and understand the importance of perseverance. The poem takes the reader through metaphorical comparisons between oxen, water buffalo, and seals.
“To Be of Use” is a poem that focuses on the value of hard work, the meaningfulness of that work, and the necessity of perseverance. In the poem’s opening, Piercy’s speaker discusses the “people [they] love the best” (Line 1), expressly detailing that those who work hard, even when the situations are adversarial, are admirable.
To Be Of Use. Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1973. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. Download PDF. Access Full Guide.
By Marge Piercy. The people I love the best. jump into work head first. without dallying in the shallows. and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. They seem to become natives of that element, the black sleek heads of seals. bouncing like half-submerged balls. I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
Marge Piercy. To Be Of Use. Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1973. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. Download PDF. Beta. Themes. Persevering Against Difficulties.
When the speaker references seals and their similitude to “half-submerged balls”, I conjure an extraordinarily vivid mental image of those seals bobbing up and down, just as beach balls do. It is an effective piece of sensory writing, and also serves to relate how one can become “a native of that element”.
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums but you know they were made to be used. The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real. From Circles on the Water: Selected Poems of Marge Piercy (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982). Used with permission.
