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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.
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,
“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.
21 sie 2024 · As Marge Piercy suggests in this poem, there is no job that is inherently more valuable than any other. “The thing worth doing well done” may be as common as mud or as exalted as gold—the value of it comes from the heart with which it is done and its usefulness to others. To be of use. by Marge Piercy. The people I love the best
“To Be of Use” by Marge Piercy is a lyric poem of four stanzas that was first published in a 1973 collection of the same title. This collection was Piercy’s fourth, published relatively early in her career.
I want to be with people who submerge. in the task, who go into the fields to harvest. and work in a row and pass the bags along, who are not parlor generals and field deserters. but move in a common rhythm. when the food must come in or the fire be put out. The work of the world is common as mud.
To Be of Use 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.
