Narrative Poem Analysis: Social Issues and Contexts of Iris - Essay Example

Narrative Poem Analysis: Social Issues and Contexts of Iris Overview Poetry as a form of literature has several features and components. One of such has to do with the reasons behind which a poet would choose a particular title, theme and poetic content (Brooke, 1999). Whiles reading Iris by Mark Jarman, one gets a sense of strong purpose of writing for which the writer tries to use his work to address key social issues and premises. Generally, poets are seen as people who do not only entertain the social world with their great works of poetic literature but also use their medium to join in the discussions of everyday social events and this was something that Mark Jarman did with so professionalism and academic touch. According to reviewer (Perloff, 2008), “right from the start of the poem, a very good and discerning reader would notice a deviation from the regular structure and trend of a typical American poem”. Though this deviation does not give the poem the usual flow associated with contemporary poetry, it is said to have played the purpose of establishing a firm social context very well. At least, with the approach adapted by the writer, he was able to use several linguistic techniques to bring the attention of readers to the need to be concerned about some social issues that are fast creeping into a contemporary social syndrome. So even though the structure and makeup of the poem its self may not have a strong contemporary background, it was highly successful in addressing modern day variation of social topics. Some of the means by which the poet did this in Iris included the use of a woman as the key character, the use of the theme of social abuse, the use of imagery and finally the use of incoherent writing pattern. Use of woman as key character It is common knowledge, backed with state and federal evidence that women are the worse affected when it comes to issues of social deprivation and abuse (Angel, 2012). In 1992 when Mark Jarman wrote Iris, such social deprivation and abuse against women were at their peak in the American setting in which he wrote the poem. Using a woman as the key character of the poem was therefore an important approach in getting his message through and to the right target group. Somehow, the writer was making a conscious effort in drawing the attention of authorities to the neglected roles that they were expected to play for the woman in ensuring that the woman had a very sound social environment within which to operate. The characterization of women in the poem was also a satire against some of the social injustice that women can emit out to their fellow women. So the writer wrote: “I watched her fold them in a daze, But then I hurried after my mad sister. I saw her pounding on the strange woman’s car door. The woman was in the car – it looked like she was living” (Jarman, 1992: 109). Indeed, there were women who were responsible for the torture and torment that their fellow women went through and this was going to be an issue that the writer wanted public authorities to be aware of. Finally, there was the use of women as characters, and particularly the use of an abused woman as a key character to empower women that they could have the world of their freedom in their own hands and so needed to rise above their challenges. Theme of Social Unrest In their review, Good Reads (2012) put their description of social unrest that met Iris as a character right by saying that “IRIS is the story of a woman who refuses to be crushed by the sordid circumstances of her life - the poverty and drugs, the violence and un-redemptive love.” Indeed, such characteristics of social unrest have been very common in our contemporary world and in the world in which the writer lived in at the time of writing. Poverty for example has been a social issue that socialists say have been treated with the wrong approach and so continues to leverage against masses of the society (Brooke, 1999). As portrayed in the poem, the real value of wealth has been made to be the privilege of some very few people and the gap between such rich people and the poor continues to widen by the day. As a social analyst using the tool of poem, the writer therefore saw the need to address the issue head-on using his medium of expression. The social issue of drug abuse and misuse were also highlighted in the poem and with this, the writer was highly emphatic with his stand on the issue of drug as he stated that “To sit with Mama. Or to the police station to answer question. It was simple To say, “Yes it could have been drug-related.” Mama would know, but Mama couldn’t talk.” (Jarman, 1992: 40). From the above, we see a strong sense of legal justice being expressed by the writer on the need to direct all drug related cases to the police for appropriate legal actions to be taken on them. Use of imagery Discussing the use of imagery under the broad topic of social issues and context may seem to be a deviation but that is not the case at all. This is because imagination has been identified as a very useful and important social phenomenon for building a well coordinated and integrated world around a person (Boylan, 1998). It is not surprising therefore that the writer of Iris incorporated the use of imagery in greater parts of the poem. In a quite unusual manner, the writer decided to use a detailed imagery of Robinson Jeffers’ works as the review of Good Reads notes that “the poem is a passionate homage to Robinson Jeffers; Jarman borrows Jeffers' line, his voice, his landscapes, and his vision.” The review goes on to indicate that “eventually he even borrows Jeffers himself by making his imagined ghost the tragic chorus of this feverish drama” (Good Reads, 2012). But coordinating this strange approach into the social unrests that were going on around Iris, it would be said that it helped in bringing out a complete identity of the theme of the poem. If for nothing at all, it was the use of imagery and imaginations that gave the key character the kind of social personality she developed in the poem. Through imaginations, the character refused to be overcome by the social pressures that were hovering around her. In a very larger system of analysis, it can be said that the writer actually prescribed the use of positive imagination as an intervention for people who for one reason or the other may be going through various forms of social hardships in life. Conclusion In conclusion, it would be said that the writer of Iris was very successful in addressing key social issues in his book, while staying: to a greater extent with some of the fundamental basis of a poem. In the long run therefore, there was a poem and there was a social context, two of which were blended to spend out the message resilience against social pressures that confronts no less a person than a middle aged woman. The approach has therefore given the book so much value that it becomes useful for not just its poetic content and structure but also for its provocative approach to addressing threatening social issues. As a recommendation, it will be said that it is important that the issues of the poem will not be considered only important for the time and setting during which it was written. This is because there is evidence to show that were continue to live in a society whereby social vices, abuses and lawlessness continues to confront the very people whose contributions to society should have made the society as better place to live (Angel, 2012). CITED WORKS Angel U. Thomas. Codes of Poetic Studies. Ultimate Press Limited: New York. 2012. Print. Boylan, Henry. A Dictionary of Irish Biography, 3rd Edition. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan. 1998. Print. Brooke, Charles. The Book of Irish Writers 1999. Web. 19th February, 2013 Good Reads. Irish. 2012. Web. February 28, 2013 Jarman, Mark. Iris. A Book Length Poem. Story Line Press: New York. 1992. Print. Perloff, Michael. The Dynamics of Persuasion communication and Attitudes in the 21st Century. Third Edition. Alpha Press Limited: Durban. 2008. Print. 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