How Ironic

"'Please don't write such depressing letters. Your're upsetting your mother.'" -"APO 96225" by Larry Rottmann

     Because the chapter is based on figurative language, a majority of the poems use irony to get their point across. A good amount of them are criticizing something in society through this irony. This is most apparent in "Ozymandias" and "Barbie Doll." The speaker describes a figure who starts out with one appearance or nature and transforms into something diferent. By the end it sounds like the speaker is not surprised by the outcome; it is merely a appropriate end to a story. For this reason, the distinction between author and speaker in some ironic works is important to understand. The speaker wants the progression to sound normal while the author uses that tone to specifically point out characteristics of the characters or situations. Piercy certainly does not think a woman with plastic surgery and years of torment is a happy ending, but she has the speaker talk like it is to draw attention to the issue. The E.E. Cummings poem uses some of the same techniques. Cummings urges his audience to not worry, essentially spelling out the tragedy of patriotic death for any citizen. Cummings probably wants readers to question their loyalty to any governing power which is inevitably corrupt and crumbling.