Gender Construction In Poetry

Von Bundeson
English Assignment – Gender Construction in Poetry
Part One: Poetry analysis and gender comparison table

Woman, Oh Woman – Bill Simmons

Woman, Oh woman
Why do you make me feel
Every time I'm near you
My heads a spinning wheel

Woman, Oh woman
What have you done to me
Woman, Oh woman
Did you cast a spell on me

Woman, Oh woman
When you touch me, I chill
When you kiss me, I'm in heaven
I've known nothing so real

Woman, Oh woman
When I gaze into your eyes
I'm blinded by the passion
I feel that's deep inside

Woman, Oh woman
Did you overdo your spell
My heart’s in many pieces
It saddens me to tell

Woman, Oh woman
What have you done to me
Woman, Oh woman
Did you cast a spell on me

Woman, Oh woman
In sadness I do tell
My heart’s in tiny pieces
Did you overdo your spell.

Analysis

Woman, Oh Woman explores the emotions of a person who has fallen in love with a woman. It progresses gradually from a poem about love to one of heartbreak. The poem heavily uses repetition to get his ideas across. The line ‘Woman, Oh woman’ is used in the first line of every stanza, reinforcing the person’s love and later anxiety in relation to the woman. There are some rhymes in the poem, including some oblique rhymes, which make the poem a little more fun to read. The main emotion explored is love and how it can affect people, with the poem starting off light and cheery, but becoming sad and anguished towards the end. This change in mood reflects the harsh realities of love, and what beautiful and painful feelings it can evoke. It is written in the first person, making the poem personal and also helping the reader understand the man’s position better.

Woman, Oh Woman is about a person (presumably a man) who falls in love with a woman. The man is describes himself as very in love with this woman, and expresses what he feels when he interacts her. He is enchanted by a woman who is never described. The man’s isolation in this poem...