Political Poetry by Margaret Atwood

Backdrop addresses cowboy by Marg bet Atwood Creating a skilled poetical movement through the American mythos, Atwood skewers bear witness destiny by embodying the voice of the Other, the discarded I am. Writing political poetry that art in full confronts dominant ideology thus exposing the motivation and effects of misrepresentation is a difficult challenge. The process can easily be derailed by temptations to salvage strident, overly did behaveic verse that elevates sentiment above nuance and craft. plot of land pettishness is certainly important, it is the poem itself that transforms political intent into a dynamic act of oppositional literature. To be effective as a contestation, it must start-off be effective as a poem. In Backdrop addresses cowboy, Margaret Atwood delivers a critical indictment of imperialist power that, through its elegant craft and abstract remainswork, is also a breathtakingly vibrant poem. The core message, a potent adjuration of reckless pow er from the perspective of those who suffer its consequences, is simultaneously unequivocal and oblique.Though Atwoods indictment is readily apparent, close reading reveals a brilliant poetic foundation comprised of nuanced speech, double-meanings, and a metaphorical structure that satirically lambasts American exceptionalism by skewering the individualist cowboy myth with imagery from its suffer construction. In short, Atwoods poem succeeds as a political statement beca employment she allows the demands of exceptional poetry to drive its articulation. From the outset, Atwood chooses language that economically expands the meaning of each phrase.For example, Starspangled, the poems first word, focuses a personification of cowboy mentality into a subtle critique of nationalistic manipulation. In addition, other connotations come to mind, like starry-eyed, or the gaudiness of spangles. withal elements internal to the American anthem apply bombs bursting, a nation on a lower floor siege, victory against all odds. Though speculative, a reading like this is back up by the poems representation of a cowboy who violently protects his own interests in an imagined landscape fill up with heroes and villains.Regarded as a howling(a) figure by the myth of manifest destiny, he is conversely seen as a reckless tyrant by those who suffer the effects of his violence. The first stanza reveals a comic figure Starspangled cowboy sauntering through his child-like fantasy date pulling a prop from the Hollywood simulacrum that supports his myth. Atwood complicates this image in the second stanza when she introduces violence to her almost- /silly characterization of the mythical West. Using a disputation break to accentuate the transition, she fills the impact of a stand-alone line against the expanded meaning of its grammatical context. Isolated, line six (you are desolate as a bathtub) relates directly to the opening stanzas child-like caricature, forming an axiomatic trope that is both interesting and oddly mundane. Accentuated by the break, the lines reading adds dramatic nuance when its sentence unfolds into a broader meaning you are innocent as a bathtub / filled with bullets. Contrasting the dry character of opposed readings (innocent and not-at-all-innocent) within the space of shared words, Atwood foreshadows an overall conceptual structure in which backdrop refers both to the simulacrum of Hollywood sets and to the true(a) environment of a beleaguered world. Despite its obvious quantitative reference, bathtub / filled with bullets also infers a Hollywood cliche the bullet-riddled bathtub that reinforces a composing inherent to the myth if youre not ready to fight, theyll get you when youre vulnerable.An inference like this reflects back on the subtle statement of the originally use of starspangled a nation that imagines itself as besieged can use that camouflage as justification for militarism and imperialist expansion. Again, supp orted by the poem, these significations certify a complicated structure that works internal logic to frame an effective (and damning) political statement. Oppositions and Conceptual Structure This is a poem most power and disenfranchisement.It employs oppositions as a conceptual device to turn manifest destiny on its head. Exploding the cowboy myth by use of its own imagery and overarching theme of heroes and villains, Atwood draws complex parallels to American exceptionalism, a black and washcloth ideology that drains color from alternative perspectives. By use of satire, she effectively removes the drape that justifies questionable actions as being both inevitable and heroic. As stated in the title, the voice of this poem is that of backdrop (i. . the environment of scenes portrayed by the myth and recontextualized by the poem) addressing cowboy. The expanding focus on cowboy and his violent surround reaches a pivot in the fifth stanza when the Hollywood backdrop is fully ex posed, and the speaker finally reveals herself. Using the word ought (implying mandatory obligation), she questions her expected habit on the set (passive, hands clasped / in admiration) while asserting, I am elsewhere. Spoken as backdrop, and expanded in the final stanzas, this statement implies a conceptual flip wherein backdrop becomes subject, inhabiting an environment desecrated by the reckless actions of a transient cowboy. Simulacra In the essay Simulacra and Simulation, philosopher dungaree Baudrillard states, The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truthit is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true. While Baudrillard perhaps overstates his case, the point is clear actions instigated and justified by myth play an undeniable role in shaping both material and favorable reality.Applying this concept to Atwoods poem, manifest destiny can be seen performing as truth in its own regard concealing no truth, because instead it has replaced tru th with artifice. Accordingly, cowboy becomes backdrop to the postmodern world from which Atwood addresses the authorized existence of other, more substantial truths conveniently denied by myth. The Alternative origin of Effective Verse As representation itself, replete with borrowed imagery and the rubble of experienced consequence, this poem enacts a self-reflexive reversal of the social forces it speaks against.With a lexicon full of bullets, Atwood crafts a poem that stands the test of both truth and time so far does so peacefully, through an act of oppositional literature. Whether her poem is construed as feminist, environmentalist, post-colonial, or just-plain-political (from a Canadian perspective), its verity is affirmed by continued relevance. Written in the mid-seventies, it speaks just as powerfully in our current era. In impairment of effective poetics, how good is that?