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Feminism: An Explication Of Shay Alexi's Song Of The Pretty Bird

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Pretty Bird Feminism: An Explication of Shay Alexi’s “Song of the Pretty Bird.”
Summary-
Shay Alexi is an underground artist who is rising in popularity with her powerful slam poetry. In her poem, “Song of the Pretty Bird” the reader is put into the shoes of the ‘pretty pink bird’ in order for it to share its view; the view of a victim to the constant pressure of meeting society’s standards. In the first and second stanzas of the poem, the narrator reveals how she is constantly preening her feathers to make herself prettier, since that is all she believes she could be. They also reveal that, because she is pretty, ‘pigeons’ are constantly chasing after her while condeming the mediocre (lines 4-28). Towards the middle of the poem, the pink …show more content…

In the poem, the word “pretty” is repeated a total of 55 times (lines 1-68). This helps portray the narrator as someone who is extremely self-conscious and insecure. The poem also uses an extended metaphor to compare the pink bird with a woman. The metaphor is used to depict how women are objectified, like the pretty bird, and how they are expected to put down their interests in order to please men and yield to social norms (lines 1-68). Furthermore, “The Song of the Pretty Bird” mentions her adolescence by incorporating it into the poem’s hyperbole, “Baby bird could compose whole symphonies” (line 49). The author uses this line to make an exaggeration about the extreme change of the pretty bird’s current self and its past. It shows how, unlike the current pretty pink bird, her past self was smart and capable of doing many great things. Overall, the poetic devices integrated allow for us to share the bird's view and feelings.
Meaning/Theme-
“The Song of the Pretty Bird” is an extended metaphor used to, both, express the pressure of society’s beauty standards and the dichotomy of women not being able to be smart and pretty simultaneously. As stated by a presentation found in Prezi,a website used to make and display projects, ”the poem [is] about women's beauty standards and women feeling the need to appease men.” Formal Conclusion

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