Marge Percy’s poem the Emperor criticizes the leadership within governments. Many poetic aspects have been applied to ascertain that every reader understands and relates to the current leadership dominion. Similes were diversely utilized within the rhyme. The writer uses the aspect when talking about the evil old men and how they rule the world like a comic strip. This is a demonstration of the amount of influence these leaders have over the world (Prosyannikova 19). The comparison of the world to a comic strip is a show of how these leaders have made the world incapable of operating independently. Comics are artistic creations that can be very efficient for entertainment and educational purposes. These scripts are developed according to the developers’ flow and imaginary prowess.
When the poet says these leaders hold the globe like something they might bite into, it is clear that these elderly leaders see the world as nothing but an investment opportunity. Leaders have forgotten their responsibility to their citizens and their roles in improving the well-being of their nations. These claims are justified in the poem, where the writer uses similes to demonstrate how these evil leaders see the world as insignificant unless they are growing their gains. Imagery in the rhyme appears when the poet describes the obsessiveness of the current leadership regime when watching and manipulating the world. The emperors sit and watch all that creep, and they obsess over the grasshoppers, the minnows, and leaves that reproduce to provide food. Imagery in poetry helps readers to visualize the writer’s ideas (Xu). Although everyone is unique in their interpretation, imagery in poetry creates similarities that form compatible images for the readers regardless of their position.
The poet develops a very recognizable image pattern from the beginning of the poem. The beginning states the ruling powers have aged, yet they are unyielding. These old evil leaders are adamant about retaining their control over the world, yet their ages require them to retire. The destruction these cabals have caused in the world has been compared to lakes of smoking asphalt wherever their influence has been directed. The cruelty and indifference of these leaders are further portrayed through the similes. As mentioned earlier, comic strips follow the writer’s imagination and express their stance based on their story. From the rhyme, it is evident that leaders, regardless of their domain, are determined to maintain their hold of power over the young and the female gender.
The poet uses metaphors to compare evil leaders to door knobs. These leaders are supposed to provide opportunities where the young and the world can develop. However, in the rhyme, rather than operate as role models, they are eating the young. This can be interpreted as a leader standing to gain more benefits from the efforts of the youths or failure to provide the young with opportunities to grow and develop their skills, personalities, and even a chance to replace the older generation. The poet defines society to be a snake with its tail in its mouth.
According to the rhyme, the current world order does not yield profits, each generation feeds the next, and they have to coexist in order for a future to happen. Unless the current demoralized order in society is changed, the next generations will not have a future to look up to. Their greed and plunder have made them fat and heavy as dinosaurs; they crush and flatten all that comes their way. Leaders have little regard for their subjects, and if they notice any resistance, they will actively commit atrocities to display their power.
Personification in the poem is evident where creeping grasshoppers are used to represent the regular subjects. From the rhyme, the elderly yet unyielding emperors are always watching all that creep, the grasshoppers, minnows, and plants that yield food. According to the poem, grasshoppers represent the subjects that are governed by these arrogant leaders. Like the insects, these subjects are very fragile, and emperors are determined to assert their dominion over them (Sayakhan 99). The poet uses these aspects to relate how incapacitated the world and its population were before these impulsive rulers. Insects make up the lowest life forms in all of creation, and using them to represent human subjects exaggerates their insignificance.
The personification of insects can represent the aspect of poetic exaggeration. It is accurate to conclude that subjects of an oppressive regime are powerless before their arrogant and self-imposed leaders. However, comparing them to grasshoppers proves the extent of inhumanity and irrationality within leadership systems. Agribusiness initiated by governors, leach the soils, and the waste in the form of mercury and slug has been deposited into rivers and on the plains. The current world governance is polluting all opportunities without concern for the future.
Symbolism was widely applied in the poem; in coherence with the above-discussed poetic aspects, the writer uses symbolism to describe immorality in governments. Symbolism in poetry uses hieroglyphs that represent the ideas and qualities of the poet (Dudareva 54). Society has long tolerated the rot in governance, and it has spread to all sectors, even to the lowest of leaders. Like a snake with its tail in its mouth, the wheel of seasons has adopted immoral governance that does not generate any profits. Since each generation is responsible for mentoring the next, the old and unprincipled will continue to demoralize society unless fast and firm actions are taken.
Works Cited
Dudareva, Marianna A. “Apophatic Elements in the Poetry of SA Yesenin: Thanats’ Characters.” Amazonia Investiga, vol. 8, no. 22, 2019, pp. 51-57.
Prosyannikova, Yana. “Semiotics of Similes in English Poetic Texts of Canadian Poetry.” Technology Transfer: Innovative Solutions in Social Sciences and Humanities, 2018, pp. 16-18.
Sayakhan, Najat Ismael. “The Use of Personification and Apostrophe as Facilitators in Teaching Poetry.” Journal of Language Studies, vol. 1, no. 4, 2019, pp. 98-106.
Xu, Linli, et al. “How Images Inspire Poems: Generating Classical Chinese Poetry from Images with Memory Networks.” Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Vol. 32. No. 1. 2018, 5618–5625.