She Covers Her Beauty: A Poem by Charlette Domingo

"She covers her beauty" is a brief sixteen line poem written by Charlette Domingo. The poem criticizes the hypocritical nature of the society in which the persona belongs to. Domingo depicts society as a place where women are vulnerable and subjected to various forms of abuse and exposed to many dehumanizing and unspeakable conditions. It is the women that experience the highest levels of condemnations and yet blamed for being instigators of the various forms of abuses and violence that befall them. Women are indeed of a special kind and are equated to treasure in the poem.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Unfortunately, most women do not always receive this kind of recognition; instead, they have been reduced to a state of worthlessness and are no longer treasured as it is supposed to be. Most women are used as objects of pleasure and shared by men to satisfy their sexual desires. The persona blames society for its hypocritical nature of building constructs and accepting the evil and inhumane nature that women pass through in their daily lives. The character described by the persona, however, remains untainted and hides away her beauty from a morally corrupt society. The poet uses a lot of metaphorical language and literary devices such as imagery and structure to express her feelings concerning the subject matter and to derive the central theme.

The poem is written in a free verse form as it does not conform to structural patterns and strict poetic rules such as rhythm and meter. According to the Poetry Foundation, a free Verse is a non-metrical, non-rhyming poem in which lines follow the natural rhythm of speech. Although a regular flow of sound may be present in free verse, the author does not adhere to the metrical arrangements and flow in their formulation. In "She covers her beauty," the poet begins the first line with the Phrase "She covers her beauty" and then continues to give further explanation and more details, just like in prosaic works. I.e.

She covers her beauty.

For she ought not to be tainted.

In a world where treasure is

Shared

Used

Bruised

And abused.

The above excerpt from the poem when joined together form a complete and a grammatically correct sentence that does not include any structures such as meter or rhyme but simply a direct expression of the author's feelings in a formal language split into lines. The free verse allows the author freedom to express their most innate feelings without being distorted through conforming to the strict poetry rules. In she covers her beauty, Domingo builds the theme of women's degradation in the poem more effectively.

Apart from the structure adopted by the author to drive the theme, metaphor as a literary device was used to a great extent. In the poem, the author refers to women as jewels and diamonds to show how special and valuable they are and should be taken care of respected and treasured, just like the most precious of all minerals and world treasures. The author writes, "And she shades a tear/for each jewel and Diamond/Being oppressed and manipulated" (12, 13 &14). According to the author, women denoted as "jewel and Diamond ought to be loved and treated as the most precious gems in this world. However, to her disappointment, the treasure is shared amongst many, used inappropriately, harmed, and abused. She speaks with most profound sorrow showing regret on how things turned out to be that it makes her cry and feel pity for each jewel and diamond. The metaphorical comparison of women to jewel and diamond depicts women to be of high value. Still, ironically, they are being oppressed and manipulated hence creating feelings of bitterness and satisfaction in society.

Imagery in the poem also appeals to audiences and helps create a mood that is in line with the theme of oppression in the poem. Imagery is used by poets to create sensory stimulation through both visually and sound imagery (Davidson). The poem begins with a description of a woman who is the protagonist in the setting. The first line of the poem states, "She covers her beauty," which appeals to the visual image of how the woman looks. The ballad goes further and reveals to the audience that the woman remains untouched by the greedy hands of those who only condemn things. In addition, the author states, "And she shades a tear" (12), a statement that appeals to the emotions of the audience and creating a somber mood or atmosphere.

To conclude, Charlette Domingo's poem talks about the oppression of women in society. Women are the heart and soul of society and the most valuable members. However, there exists a lot of discrimination and abuse of women, something that should not be tolerated in society. To bring about this theme of women's oppression, Domingo uses a free verse poem with literary devices such as imagery and use of metaphor.

Personal Poem Analysis

My personal poem is titled corruption. Just as the titles suggest, it is about the ballooning rot of society due to corruption. Society today is no longer run by the wheels of morality but rather personal and selfish gains that one stands to benefits. Corruption has penetrated almost all essential sectors that were previously deemed as the back born of the society, indicating that it is on the verge of collapse if nothing is done to remedy this predicament. The situation is so dire that academic qualifications cannot easily land someone a job opportunity unless one has got connections with people in places of authority. The rich are becoming richer and benefiting from this corrupt system because they are the very ones with money needed to open doors. At the same time, the poor continue to languish in absolute Poverty. To effectively deliver the theme of corruption, I opted to write it as free verse and incorporated literary devices for sensual appeal.

The poem does not conform to the traditional poet writing techniques hence giving me the freedom to express my innate feelings without restrictions. The poem does not have regular rhymes, meter, nor does it have stanzas. I opted for this kind of writing to pour out all my thoughts and feeling that I had towards corruption as it is a sensitive issue in society that must be addressed directly to the audience. The first five lines of the poem states;

Corruption! Corruption! Corruption! Mother of all evils has turned to a daily song, Ravished in a dark turmoil, money has become the ruler of every field, Poverty takes charge as the rich become richer and richer, opportunities set aside for relatives and friends in different fields, leaders planning of tomorrow, as if a guarantee, with millions in banks and lots of materials for their next of kin while the poor and the elderly die of Poverty and old age.

The lines in the above excerpt are of completely different lengths; the ends of each line do not have any rhymes, nor can a rhyme scheme be derived from it. In addition, the choice of words does not conform to any fixed pattern of syllable arrangement. However, the theme in the poem is concise and easily comprehended by the audience.

Moreover, I utilized a larger extend of personification in the poem to create a sensual appeal in the audience. Personification is the rhetorical figure by which a non-human subject is given human characteristics in terms of the identity of the face (Melion & Ramaker, 2016 p 1). Corruption has a very close association with money, and the need for money could arguably the root cause of corruption. To effectively paint the picture of money as a supreme object and a center of authority, I personified the subject matter hence giving it attributes that are supposed to be given to humans. However, money seems to have taken over each and every sector, and without it, nothing can be done. The first sentence of the first paragraph states, "Corruption! Corruption! Corruption! Mother of all evil ...Money has become the ruler of every filed" (1, 2). Connotation of corruption to mother indicates that is the root cause of all the rot in today's society.

Repetition is also evident in the first phrase to indicate stress and emphasis on the subject matter. The world corruption is repeated throughout the poem in a number of lines creating visibility and revealing the defeated tone. The first line of the poem states, "Corruption! Corruption! Corruption! Mother of all evil" (1). Lastly, I used hyperbole in the poem to evoke the feelings of the audience and create a suitable tone.

In conclusion, my poem is about the effects corruption has brought on the majority of societies in the world today. To adequately express the theme of corruption and express myself freer, I composed the poem as free verse and incorporated literary devices, including personification, repetition, and hyperbole.

Works cited

Davidson, Literary Devices, Techniques and Element

https://www.pittsfordschools.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=542&dataid=4672&FileName=Literary%20Devices.pdf

Domingo Charlette, "She covers her Beauty"

Melon, S.W &Ramakers, Bart., Personification: Introduction https://www.uni-

muenster.de/imperia/md/content/mittellatein/forschung/intersections/41introduction_walter_s_melion_and_bart_ramakers.pdf