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A Study Guide for Marge Piercy's "To be of use"
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A Study Guide for Marge Piercy's "To be of use," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
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A Study Guide for Marge Piercy's "To be of use" - Gale
10
To Be of Use
Marge Piercy
1973
Introduction
Much of Marge Piercy's poetry is informed by her Jewish background as well as by her sense of activism, which was cultivated during the anti-Vietnam War and women's rights movements of the 1970s. The poem To Be of Use,
which first appeared in 1973 in a volume by the same name, is often examined within the context of Piercy's Jewish identity and her role as a political and social activist. A self-described feminist, Piercy is a well-respected novelist as well as a poet, and the vivid phrasing as well as the visual vignettes of To Be of Use
are suggestive of her storytelling abilities. In the loosely-structured poem, Piercy uses straightforward language and an informal tone to praise the value of hard work and purposeful action. Acts of common, physical labor are compared with beautiful yet utilitarian artifacts from different cultures. Piercy evokes a simpler time with her references to ancient cultures and the hand-harvesting of food, lending the poem a sense of yearning for times past. At the same time, the poem is uplifting and hopeful about the future. Piercy acknowledges her love for people who embrace this same simple, hard-working attitude of long ago, and her reverent attitude regarding such people conveys her faith in their abilities to improve the world through their
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