Title
The poem “What do women want?”
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The literal meaning of the poem “What do women want”
"What do women want" clearly shows the demands of a woman, who want to wear a red dress. The dress she wants a red dress without sleeves and back revealing. An item of cloth is described and it is a symbol used by a woman to express his demands and she shows she wants to have the power to show her tight flimsy dress to anyone. She wants to wear a red dress which would be very tight and wants to walk around the streets so everyone could see her dress. She expresses her meaning most understandably, a materialistic object. A materialistic object does not show any meaning until it is shown to the world and in the poem, she shows her desires to the world and the world sees it. The speaker used this metaphor to strengthen her claim that she would not leave her dress until she died which shows the importance of her dress for a woman. It meant to be the woman's thought. The ending stanza shows the attachment of dress because she wants to take it to her grave and she demands rights for women that women should get all rights.
The figurative meaning of the poem
After reading the poem what do women want by Kim Addonizio it is showed that the author demands are a bit different. She wants a tight red and flimsy dress. It was as if she wanted to become the person who would wear this piece of garment, evidenced in lines such as; “-I’ll pull that garment from its hanger like I’m choosing a body to carry me into this world-“(21-22), and, “-I’ll wear it like bones, like skin, it’ll be the goddamned dress they bury me in.”(25-27). She wanted to express every desire of women with the help of a dress. She did not care about anyone and want to wear what she wants. This woman does not care to wear this dress for anyone but herself which is expressed in the lines, “I want it to confirm your worst fears about me, to show you how little I care about you-“(16-18). The lines show she is addressing someone unknown here. It might be her ex-lover or someone who had an intimate relationship with the poet.
Paper 2
Introduction
The poem “what do women want” written by Kim Addonizio shows the desires of women. The desires are very different as she wants to wear a tight, short and flimsy dress to show everyone that she can wear anything she wants whether the world likes it or not. She expresses nudity and also desiring that she will wear such a dress until someone tears it off. The desire of wearing a sleeveless is more than the life of a woman. She wants to make the dress with her in the grave also.
Theme
The main idea of the poem is that women want to have every right and she also demands to have care, attention, and fame. This poem uses symbols and imagery to express women's desire of attraction and attention. It can be seen that women want an attraction with the help of nudity as she wants to wear a short dress. She can be nude until she gets the attention of others and she is associating nudity with women to show that they are weak and they need help care.
Body
The starting lines of the poem show the desires of women who seem alone. In lines “I want a red dress, I want it flimsy and cheap, I want it too tight, I want to wear it until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless” she wants to describe that she wants to live freely without any interference of anyone. She said that she wants to wear a red dress which would be short and back revealed. She wanted to get the attraction of everyone and the power of expressions shows that she wants attention by nudity. She thought that it is the only way she can survive because men attract to nudity. In lines 14- 21 she demands that she want to walk alone and she wishes to walk like she is the only woman left in the world and everyone should focus on her dress and style. Then she expresses her relationship with her lover and she wants to tell that she does not care about him now. In the last lines, the poet expresses her last wishes that she wants to take her dress with her in the grave. Nothing is not going to stop her to get real attention even in the end.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the poem is the only about the desires of a woman. The woman simply wants to get attention and care by showing her dress and while showing this she does not care about nudity also. The woman is crazy about her dress and wishes to take the dress in the grave.
Reference
What Do Women Want? Summary and Review. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lifeclub.org/books/what-do-women-want-daniel-bergner-review-summary
Kivett, M. (2018, August 9). What do Women Want by Kim Addonizio ⇒ Free Book Summary? Retrieved from https://freebooksummary.com/what-do-women-want-by-kim-addonizio-124540
Addonizio, K. (n.d.). "What Do Women Want?" by Kim Addonizio. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42520/what-do-women-want