Comparing Feminist Poems 'Fat Girl And' Phenomenal Woman

The poetry set that interested me the most is Feminist Poetry/Women’s Voices. Feminist poetry is a movement that came about in the 1960s when writer went against traditional writing norms. In the movement, women celebrated the consciousness of the different experiences of men and women in many crucial aspects of our life. (Charters, pg 1035.) The poems I chose are “homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton, “Fat Girl” by Megan Falley, and “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou. The women in these poems convey their message through word choice, repetition, and tone. These poems have common themes like appearances, femininity, and self love. The women in these poems are celebrating their bigger body images. In the poem “homage to my hips” Lucille Clifton

Repetition of words adds rhythm structure. The writers also use repetition to emphasize what they are talking about. In the poem “homage to my hips,” Lucille Clifton repeated the words “these hips are.” Clifton describes her hips as big, free, mighty, and magic. She wants the readers to know she loves her hips, and she is proud of the body she is in. Megan Falley repeated “fat girl” in her poem Society rates the word “fat” as a negative word, but Falley goes outside of what society thinks. Falley repeats “fat” to make it positive. She wants her audience to know that “fat” is okay, and it is not as bad as what people think. Maya Angelou repeats, “I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.” (Angelou) In some way she is bragging about being so phenomenal. Angelou wants people to know that she is amazing because of her different body features. In each poem, repetition shows ownership to something personal. Lucille Clifton owns her big hips, Megan Falley owns that she is a “fat” girl, and Maya Angelou own that she is phenomenal. This personal ownership establishes a connection with the

In “homage to my hips”, the Lucille Clifton uses lowercase letters that help express her tone. When reading lowercase letters, a reader can infer the tone is soft unlike capital letters that express loud speaking. Her subtle tone draws attention to her hips. Clifton expresses her satisfaction with her hips. Maya Angelou expresses a strong and confident tone. She says, “It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips.” (Angelou, Ln 6-10) and “It’s the fire in my eyes,/And the flash of my teeth,/ The swing in my waist,/And the joy in my feet”(Angelou) Those traits make her phenomenal women. Megan Falley, on the other hand, adds slight humor is her poem, but she is mostly outraged and fed up. Falley says, “Fat girl not pregnant./Fat girl, food baby.”(Falley, Ln 19-20) In modern median, women laugh about looking slightly pregnant because they ate too much. It is usually laughed about in a positive way. She also says, “Fat girl heard, “nothing tastes as good a thin feels.””(Falley, Ln 25) At this point, Falley is explaining her experience with a skinny girl to connect to her audience. As she is speaking, she is mocking the skinny girl who believes being thin is better than eating food. She then refutes the skinny girl’s statement by saying, “Fat girl certain spicy, crunchy tuna rolls taste better than being thin feels.” (Falley, Ln 26) She is making a decision by saying she would rather be fat and