To Be Of Use

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1973

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form & Meter

“To Be of Use” is written without regular form or meter. Lineation is uneven. Construction is based off the division of lines into four stanzas, which are irregular in length. The stanzas compare different kinds of workers to swimmers and seals, oxen, field harvesters, and vessels that hold important items. Piercy uses vivid imagery, particularly that of physical movement, to convey the importance of useful work.

In the Introduction of Circles on the Water, Piercy discusses her poetic use of meter and rhyme, stating she has used “a very long line, a very short line, in a line that hovers around iambic pentameter or tetrameter, in verse paragraphs, in undifferentiated columns, in stanzas” (xv). This shows her awareness of formal schemes, and her choice not to use them in her poetry (at least in this collection). She also notes that “if [she] rhymes, [she] mostly do[es] so in the center of lines rather than on the end, where to my ear it sticks out, and chimes” (xv). Such internal off-rhyme, or simply similar assonance, is used in “To Be of Use,” particularly in lines like:

who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge

in the task, who go into the fields to harvest

and work in a row and pass the bags along (Lines 11-14).

Alliteration

Without closed form and end rhyme, rhythm can be achieved in poetry in other ways. In “To Be of Use,” Piercy uses alliteration to enhance the flow of lines and to highlight the importance of certain images. Those who jump into work “swim off with sure strokes” (Line 4) and mimic “sleek heads of seals / bouncing like half-submerged balls” (Lines 6-7). Another significant use of alliteration occurs when comparing those “who go into the fields to harvest” (Line 13) to “field deserters” (Line 15) to the workers who help “when the food must come in or the fire be put out” (Line 17).

Lines delineating the importance of work echo the “w” sound that begins that word, alternating it with an emphatic “d” sound to create a sense of emphasis. For example, the people “who do what has to be done” (Line 11) understand things that are “worth doing well done” (Line 20). The alliterative techniques in the poem are made to highlight important images or thematic points.

Kinetic Imagery

For the reader to understand the importance of satisfying work, Piercy’s speaker uses kinetic imagery, or images that incorporate movement. This creates a sense of going forward and the imminent worth of such an effort. Even as the speaker discusses the value of work, they ground it in specific images to suggest momentum. Workers “jump into” (Line 2) the ocean of their job, “swim[ming] off with sure strokes” (Line 4) until they “bounc[e]” (Line 7) like “black sleek heads of seals” (Line 6). The sense of buoyancy reflects their enthusiasm.

Piercy’s speaker also shows the movement of the ox, who “pull[s]” (Line 9) and “strain[s]” (Line 10), all to “move things forward” (Line 10). This forward motion is also shown by the workers who “pass the bags along” (Line 14) in the field, “mov[ing] in a common rhythm” (Line 16). While “botched” (Line 19) work “smears the hands [or] crumbles to dust” (Line 19), successful work “creates a shape” (Line 21) that can be used to “carry” things forward. Without the kinetic imagery of forward movement, the theme of perseverance would not be as rich.