Holly Bilski English 130b Dr.

Holly Bilski

English 130B

Dr. McKinney

Prosodic Peek at Charles Martin's "Victoria's Secret"

Imagine a world where women are definitely not supposed to enjoy sex, where men are presumed to be hairy, horny beasts. Now, imagine a world where women crave sex much more than men, and must come up with ways to entice their mates, who would rather be reading email or playing World of Warcraft. This is the dichotomy unearthed by Charles Martin in his poem "Victoria's Secret." The larger question he asks, and answers, is we sexually liberated? His answer is no. But it is the manner in which he juxtaposes Victorian and contemporary bedroom values that makes "Victoria's Secret" timely and witty, simultaneously making us laugh while we reevaluate what we've got on our coffee tables and in our closets. The strength of his narrative within his book is to carefully display the crass nature of sex within the Victoria era, against the background what he wittily transforms into his own mocking of our own sexual inhibitions.

The first step to understanding "Victoria's Secrets" is to begin to learn of Charles Martin himself, an idiosyncratic poet who has transformed his poetic style to fit within the nuances of both traditional and modern poetry. Martin is not only a noted poet but also a critic and a translator he grew up in New York City and went to Fordham University and received his doctorate from the University of Buffalo. Although within "Victoria's Secret" his focus is on the witty and friendly imitation of traditional Victorian poetry, his specialty is in Latin poetry in which he has published twice.

Considered one of the most prominent New Formalists, he has helped shape a transformation in modern form and narrative in poetry. This particular work was included within his book "Starting from Sleep: New and Selected Poems" in which he won the Bess Hokin Award.

A prosodic analysis of "Victoria's Secrets" begins with an evaluation of its metric system. Martin writes this poem in twenty six lines, his style is structured, and however he uses deviations from the established cadence to accent certain messages and themes. He rhymes the poem in anapestic pentameter, a rhythm that undulates through the narrative and requires him to stretch the limits of his rhymes. The strict couplet rhyme scheme is interrupted only during the last quatrain, with the scheme lmlm. The strong couplet rhyme scheme has an important overall value to the poem; it regulates the dichotomy between Victorian advice and his transition into mocking of modern values. He breaks his scheme in order to create a clear distinction between his current themes, the narrative description of sex within the Victorian era, to question the condescension of our view of their sexual inhibitions. Anapestic pentameter also has the unique effect of strongly ending each line as it begins a new one, the strong emphasis on the last syllables provides a cadence that ruptures at the end of each line. The importance of this strong masculine ending is that it builds upon the brutish nature of sex and creates a hard edge to the narrative poem. Readers sense the abrupt and nasty nature of male savagery because of the abrupt and powerful ending of each line.

On first reading of "Victoria Secrets," one would think that the repeated AA, BB, CC rhyme scheme would be representative of an attempt at Shakespearean Sonnet, and there are many similarities stylistically using the AA, BB, CC pattern rhyming pattern. The particular strength is that it allows him to draw separation between the messages every two lines. The ending of two rhyming lines commands a pause, which allows him to consistently turn the poem from one direction to another abruptly. Using this strategy, Martin is able to conjure different literary devices and narrative directions at once in the context of the poem. He ends one of these two line schemes with "And try to imagine themselves out buying a new hat" (ln 4), which is an obvious display of imagery, and transitions immediately to "So night after night expeditions grimly set off" (ln 5). The transition from imagery into a narrative line is made seamless by the ending of one set of linked rhymes moving on to the next. This becomes extremely important as the poem continues because he employs the two rhyme switch scheme often to shift between imagery, allegory, and narration.

Before a closer analysis of the content within "Victoria's Secret," we must first examine the literary stylization that Martin uses to juxtapose his contemporary message within his education on Victorian era sex. The use of poetic imagery is extremely important to Martin's poem. He changes his imagery from contemporary to mockingly Victorian which helps to blend the border between the two differing styles, an intentional effect to confuse the reader of his actual intentions. He starts with the imagery "imagine themselves out buying a new hat," using the hat as a strong symbol of feminine pursuits. The use of this imagery commands importance within the narrative scheme because it offers his opinion of what women within this era actually cared about and placed value in. The frivolity of this statement induces the reader to imagine the Victorian era women as extremely shallow and materialistic in nature, which aptly allows him to set up the mocking imagery and comparisons later within the poem. At the same time he uses imagery to create a clear distinction between men and women of the Victorian era. The use of men in "expeditions grimly set off" creates an overall impression that men are separated and deliberate in their drinking and cavorting. The use of expedition creates tension, and it also mocks the dramatic method in which men pursue their social ills. He follows with the line "each leaving a corpse in its wake to service the toff' (ln 6), the imagery here directly contradicts the frivolity of womanly ambitions in the line earlier, his hope is to juxtapose the two and in doing so create a wide gap between what women and men pursue. The strongly negative imagery also appears to show Martin's sympathy for the Victorian women, who find themselves in the precarious situation of callous disregard from their husbands. The point that Martin attempts to enforce with his imagery is the dystopia of the Victorian era sexual experience, he neither paints the women or men in a positive light but that both are caught within their own jaunt of maladroit behavior. This allows him to easily turn the discussion within the later half of the poem towards a critique of our contemporary value standards through another set of imagery. This we will discuss later in this analysis.

The narrative voice that Martin uses within this piece is extremely important for its overall structural development. Martin uses a strong active third person narrative throughout the piece, but consistently interjects his own opinions within the narrative. Thus he acts as an omniscient narrator of sorts, and the poetic effect is to create his persona as a storyteller. This is established through several literary devices. First his use of self imposed pauses and interjections such as the "ahem" within the first line, which creates the effect of an unrehearsed story telling rather than an effigy to the Victorian era. In effect, the almost casual voice in which he narrates the entire poem helps us to develop a rapport not with the Victorian people, but the narrator which is the same connection that uses to twist the narrative in the latter half. In order to establish his narrator's character and position, he uses both tone and punctuation as his main vehicles. The tone he uses is both active and casual, this is created through the use of off beat words such as "getting it off on them" in line 2, which jars from the topic that he is discussing so much, that it creates the tone of both condescension and taunting mockery. In the choices of imagery using "hate" and "ogre" he creates mockery in his tone as if the audience is intended to share in his laughter at the idiosyncrasies of the Victorian era relationship. By juxtaposing playful words such as "getting it off" with serious and commanding words such as "expeditions grimly set off," it is apparent that he is mocking the characters within his story. The importance of tone in the context of developing the narrative voice is that it creates a rapport with the audience by including them in the "joke" of the Victorian relationship in order to make the distinctive lesson in the second half even more intimate and immediate. The relationship developed using this narrative voice and enforced by the one can be revealed in the latter half of the poem through his use of "we" and "us," his tone allows the narrator to go from inside the narrative to stepping outside of it with equal ease and translate to helping establish the "turn" within the poem.

Punctuation is another major device Martin uses to establish the narrative voice within "Victoria's Secrets." Instead of establishing a set rhythm as with his rhyme scheme, he punctuates in order to delineate an end of a particular episode within the poem which also helps the audience understand when and where his narration changes. Each period concludes an establish section of the poem, the first period ends on "Over her, thrashing and thrusting until he was spent." (ln 8), which importantly ends his narrative of Victorian sex. The following breaks each connote the ending of one thought tangent and the beginning of another. The implication on narrative voice occurs through the shifting of his speaking tone and message after periods. In his first address the narrator is informative, the second he is reflective and the third he places mockery on contemporary standards. Thus, punctuation in this case is use to delineate what specific theme and audience he is address. The use of commas is also extremely important within the narrative style. In the first case it is used as a tool to cause rhythmic breaks within the poem such as the use of commas before and after "ahem" in the first line. It is also used to separate distinct metaphors and imagery, after each particular comparison, whether it is "getting it off on them," "expeditions grimly set off," or "the lecherous ogre bent over her" he uses commas to separate his imagery and to allow to set in with the audience. The breaks using punctuation is intentionally used to establish a secondary cadence outside the ending rhyme. The purpose being to create a second layer of emphasis upon key imagery and to control the overall tone of the piece.

Martin uses enjambment as a key literary device to emphasize "power" words within the narrative. Enjambment appears throughout the poem, however because the overall end rhyme follows a AA, BB, CC pattern the enjambment is at times much as less as in other poems. The reason that Martin employs enjambment in such a way is to ensure that certain words and phrases are emphasized within sentences. Two examples from the first half of the poem appear when he uses two power images "lie perfectly flat" and "the lecherous ogre bent." The natural rhythm of the poem through the ending rhyme forces the reader to pause despite the enjambment, which emphasizes these two powerful images. Thus, by using enjambment he calls to task the reader to understand the importance of certain phrases. Similar to imagery, Martin uses enjambment to emphasize certain words that are important to the overall message of the piece such as "forebears," "repression," "fashion" and "curious eyes." Each of these words hold an important contextual meaning to the line they are in and also ties into the primary theme of his narrative. Therefore, using enjambment in this case ensures that they are not lost amid the reading of the sentence and helps Martin in shaping the tone and narrative style throughout.

In order to tie the above literary techniques together, Martin plays a delicate balance game with the use of diction within "Victoria's Secrets." Because he wants to neither be too contrived or too relaxed, Martin chose diction that falls on either side of the spectrum to juxtapose the theme of criticism and Victorian era reticence. In his early description of Victorian era sex, he specifically chooses to use words that are uncharacteristic that description in order to place the piece in perspective. Not only does he use casual language such as "ahem" but phrases such as "getting it off on them" specifically jars with "Victorian mothers instructed their daughters." Within each end rhyme set, he uses contradicting diction style to create the contrived air of mockery. In the third end rhyme set he uses "service the toff" a traditional Victorian imagery against that of a "lecherous ogre," completely offsetting the first example. The same can be said when he uses "forebears" within the same rhyme set as "minds as unbuttoned as ours." The rapid transitions from complex language and strong diction to simple and contemporary diction are another technique that he uses to create mockery and wit within the piece. The use of contemporary ideologue in his diction jars against the formal style that one would expect from the poem's theme. This is especially prevalent when he compares "fullbreasted nymph" a strong classical imagery with "airbrushed at each conjunction." The delicate interplay of diction is an important part of what makes this poem extremely fluid and witty. As a result it leaves the audience constantly guessing, never really establishing a firm grasp of what Martin intends to do with the narrative until the poem concludes.

As a thematic devise, Martin employs paradox as one of his primary vehicles. In "each leaving a corpse in its wake to service the toff/with the whiskers and whiskey, the lecherous ogre bent" he uses imagery in direct contradiction, the purpose of such a statement is to focus our attention into his comparisons so exaggerate the distinctions between his poetic characters. In this case, he shows that the forceful nature of the brutish husband and the limp and lackadaisical mood of women after sex. In the broader context the use of paradox is at the root of his comparison between Victorian era sexuality and our contemporary sexual acceptance. In an apparent paradox, we cannot possibly be similar to Victorians, precisely because they do not have minds "as unbuttoned as ours," however through his careful dissection, he shows that although there is an apparent paradox, in reality the social institution of sexuality promoted through commercialism, captures the spirit of Victorians just as much as the frivolity of the first 8 lines. Paradox then is at the heart of Martin's poem, because he creates his mocking style by juxtaposing two social contexts that on the surface level appear to completely contradictory but ultimately similar in value standards.

The poem has this advice from Victorian mothers to daughters about sex: "The only thing for it was just to lie perfectly flat/And try to imagine themselves out buying a new hat" (lines 3 and 4). Here, women are depicted as simply putting up with sex, with no drive of their own. To maintain the base meter, "buying" in line 4 must be elided to one syllable, giving that line three anapests while taking a syllable for the team. The importance of this shift in base meter is that it transforms the cadence of the line to emphasize the phrase "buying a new hat." This adds an additional layer of meaning upon the primary interpretation of the "uselessness of women," by connoting the materialism of marriage and the false and perverse nature of marriage within the Victorian era. The importance of the hat to women within line 4, signifies the ulterior motive of why Victorian women put with sex in the first place. Martin is similarly critical of Victorian men, men are depicted as animals in bed. In lines 7 and 8, women have to make love "With the whiskers and whiskey, the lecherous ogre bent/Over her, thrashing and thrusting until he was spent." The imagery of whiskers and whiskey connotes much more meaning than the imagery might warrant on first glance. By using alliteration in this case, the narrator draws a distinct connection between unshaven or dirty, with drinking and debauchery. This allows him to make the poignant image of "lecherous ogre" much more believable for the reader. In itself lecherous ogre connotes a strongly negative position, however, the combination of ogre with the previous line's use of "corpse" juxtaposes the two into a deeper negative connotation. From an analysis of the rhyme and meter scheme, line 8 can be read three ways; this first, like the man, doesn't even try to accommodate the base rhythm, and gives an initial dactyl, a medial trochee and a medial iamb before returning to the base; his passion, like life before hygiene, is brutish and short. The line's careful breakdown from the rest of the established meter scheme creates an almost abrupt and aggressive reading of the line, subtly emphasizing his point. The second read is a line of dactyls, and it's over prematurely. The third read is a line of anapests, from which the head (like our wife's) has been removed. Compare them below:

Over her, thrashing and thrusting until he was spent.

Any of the three scansions serve the poem by saying something unflattering about our view of Victorian lovemaking. Martin abruptly transitions from his narration to contemplation of contemporary society in the next line.

This is what "we imagine, persuaded that our forebears/Couldn't have been as free from repression as we are, / As our descendants will no doubt mock any passion/They think we were prone to, if thinking comes back into fashion" (9-12). These three lines are considered the turn of the poem because they serve to transition into what Martin sees as contemporary imagery of sexual edifice. Although the meter scheme appears to follow the rest of the poem, Martin places stress over "imagine" and "forebears" as distinctly different from the anapest cadence of the following sentence. Line 12 is much harder to discern the narrator's intent. By "if thinking comes back into fashion" he appears to imply that our modern society has placed less emphasis on critical analysis and "thinking" in general. However, by separating the line into two distinct parts, it adds a particular emphasis. It changes the internal pacing of the meter, and at the same time it is the longest line within the poem. This alone seems to suggest that it is important in some way. Regardless, it provides foreshadowing of the message to follow, and in this way it appears to be the first ironic remark provided by Martin in the series that is to follow. Already we can sense that there is a shift in the overall message, but the use of this well placed irony helps to soften the blow of the full message that comes. Like comic relief in a tragic play, the lilting unstressed syllables at the ends of these lines signal a shift and turn the reader's attention to a contemporary symbol for female sexuality, Victoria's Secret catalog:

And here is Victoria's Secret, which fondly supposes

That the young women depicted in various poses

Of complaisant negligence somehow or other reveal

More than we see of them: we're intended to feel

That this isn't simply a matter of sheer lingerie,

But rather the baring of something long hidden away (13-18)

The unstressed syllables at the ends of lines 13 and 14 are like the augmentation the catalog promises in its Add-a-Cup Miracle Bra®

while the missing unstressed syllables at the beginnings of lines 14 and 16 seem to imply that we're still missing something in this new expression of female sexuality. The strong stress upon "young women depicted" in line 14 is distinct from the rest of the poem, and it serves to create tension in the irony of his mockery of our contemporary view of sexuality. Diction in this section is extremely important to note, in particular the use of "complaisant negligence." The stress within this phrase is on the term complaisant, and it connotes the author's intention clearly. The strong comparison of "complaisant negligence" can also be compared with how he uses the phrase "buying a hat" in the line 2. The purpose of his word choice here is no doubt to create a clear relationship between the similarities of how we think just as the Victorians. Somehow, the revelation of women's desire has caused us to lose our heads. This is argued in line 15, insisting that the models lack the prudence a reasonable person would exercise in the same situation, out of "complaisant negligence," with a nice play off negligee. His clever method of interposing lingerie within the context of the Victoria's Secret model also is cleverly introduced. Intended to stress that he is not merely talking about the lack of clothing and the emphasis of nudity within our contemporary culture, but moreover that the audacity of our current objectification of women veers so different from traditional values. That we now place so much emphasis on "something long hidden away," Martin is almost taunting the audience with the irony of our current sexual fixation. Much as we look down in condescension upon the Victorians for their lack of sexual escapism, the same error is committed in our over emphasis of sexuality. The clever interplay of Victoria Secrets establishes the major theme of the poem.

What is it that has been "long hidden away"?, "Liberation appears to us, not entirely nude, / In the form of a fullbreasted nymph, impeccably slim, /

Airbrushed at each conjunction of torso and limb" (20-22). One's chances of being struck by lightening are better than possessing a skinny body and full breasts. Obviously, it is only the models' poses that are complaisant. In every other way, they must remain on guard to maintain the illusion of perfection, just as the lines strain to maintain the base meter. The apt critique made by Martin here shows that just as Victorian women must provide the pretense of social obedience and materialistic obsession, women of our era are just as chained to the physical perfection demanded by the increased scrutiny of sexuality that results from contemporary glorification of the body. Martin here sacrifices the rhythmic integrity of line 22 in order to create the contemporary imagery of airbrushed. In fact, line 22 almost loses the internal meter scheme completely. It is one of nine lines that contain only three anapests, and its head has been airbrushed clean off! At least our models will never be "perfectly flat" (3). The final lines' change from couplets to quatrain with rhyme scheme lmlm signals the poem's resolution:

Who looks up from the page with large and curious eyes

That never close, and in their depths lie frozen

The wordless dreams shared by all merchandise,

Even the hats that lie in the dark to be chosen. (23-26)

We have to assume that an obedient Victorian-era wife would have her eyes closed even during the simple contemplation of sex, whereas our models' eyes never close. These same eyes connote openness to sexual exploration and the demystification of the body. They appear to never close because they already have experienced the fullness of sexuality and as a result, has denigrated to the same level of baseness as the Victorian "lecherous ogres." Examine the scansion for lines 24 and 25. Out of nowhere, line 24 is iambic pentameter with an extra unstressed syllable in "frozen." That grabs our attention and takes away the lighthearted, galloping feel we've enjoyed so far. The tone shift transitions nicely into the ending message of the poem, which is intended as a warning of sorts and a criticism. The enjambment in this particular line serves as a strong indicator of how the narrator feels towards the decadent display of contemporary sexuality. Then line 25 is a foot short, the only line of tetrameter and an odd weaving of iamb/anapest/iamb/anapest. The significance of "wordless dreams" plays within the innuendo of "women as object" that pervades through the poem. Just as the women of Victorian society are treated as sex objects by men, even more so are the women of our generation acting as vapid and voiceless pawns. The personification of "merchandise" poignantly directs us to see how women of this era are no different, perhaps worse than those of the previous generations. Women merge with the merchandise, become the hat sought in line 4, and are diminished in the process. In effect, women in our society have transcended the negativity that he shares for the Victorians, sexuality has become so entrenched and demystified that itself has become a commercially viable good. The circular imagery of the "hat" to conclude his narrative brings the poem full circle. The last line drives the point home. Again headless, again augmented with that extra little unstressed something on the end, women "lie in the dark to be chosen" (26). Women lie in the dark waiting for men to want them, and lie about their looks through augmentation. The "hat" at this point becomes representative of many different translations. It is at once the materialization of women into a sex object, but at the same time it represents the entrenchment of social judgment to the level that physical beauty is now not controlled by augmenting "things," but one's self. A much more significant leap than ever before. This is Martin's revelation, as unflattering as it is accurate.