Monday, June 1, 2015

What are some examples of sarcasm in the poem, "The Prologue"?

Almost everything in this poem is sarcastic unless you are
going to take seriously the idea that Bradstreet is really saying that she, like all
women, is not competent to write decent poetry.  This poem is saying that her work is no
good because she is a woman and that men should not judge it too harshly.  But this is
surely not what she means to say.


Once you understand this,
you can see sarcasm pop up everywhere in the poem.  For example, the first three lines
of the poem say that she is not talented or smart enough to write about elevated things
such as wars and kings.


Perhaps the most clear cut example
of sarcsasm comes in the following line where Bradstreet claims that women are inferior
to men:



Men
can do best, and Women know it well.
Preeminence in all and each is
yours




Given the
fact that she is a woman trying to write good poetry, this is clearly sarcastic.  If she
believed this, she would not be trying to write poetry.

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