A Work of Artifice

Marge Piercy’s “A Work of Artifice” is a beautiful poem that captures the frustration that women feel about their scripted role as a domestic figure rather than a free spirit on equal footing with their peers. However, I think the true strength behind this piece is the vagueness of it. Every minority has different barriers to overcome and rights to win but this short piece captures the same feeling of oppression that they all feel.

With that being said, I don’t think this poem is very effective on people that are not already fighting for or at least supporting women’s rights. It is artistic and lovely to those of us that agree with its message but if this had been an attempt to persuade a person over, it certainly would not have worked on me. It feels like this piece was written with a tone better suited for the people that suffer from sexism than for the people that support it, regardless of its attempts to provoke a response from the ‘gardeners’ it mentions.

The problem with this poem is the fact that it feels much easier to relate to, regardless of whichever minority group you belong to. It attempts to attack sexism in our society by pointing out examples of women conforming to meet male standards such as the feet binding in China and the hair curlers but still carries an overall tone of suffering and the injustice of it all rather than the logic behind why it’s wrong and how to stop it. “A Work of Artifice” is a work of art, worthy of the praise it gets, but not provocative enough to spark any real reaction.

Carolyn Sheedy