Prosodic Analysis of Charles Martin's "Victoria's Secret"

Introduction: The Poem's Central Dichotomy

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 far more than men and must devise ways to entice their mates, who would rather be reading email or playing video games. This is the dichotomy unearthed by Charles Martin in his poem "Victoria's Secret." The larger question he raises—and answers—is: are we sexually liberated? His answer is no. Yet it is the manner in which he juxtaposes Victorian and contemporary bedroom values that makes "Victoria's Secret" timely and witty, simultaneously making readers laugh while prompting them to re-evaluate what sits on their coffee tables and hangs in their closets.

The strength of Martin's narrative is his careful display of the crass nature of sex within the Victorian era, set against a backdrop that he wittily transforms into a vehicle for mocking our own sexual inhibitions.

Charles Martin and the New Formalist Context

The first step to understanding "Victoria's Secret" is to learn something of Charles Martin himself—an idiosyncratic poet who has shaped his style to fit the nuances of both traditional and modern poetry. Martin is not only a noted poet but also a critic and translator. He grew up in New York City, attended Fordham University, and received his doctorate from the University at Buffalo. Although "Victoria's Secret" showcases a witty and affectionate 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, Martin has helped shape a transformation in modern form and narrative in poetry. This particular work was included in his collection Starting from Sleep: New and Selected Poems, for which he won the Bess Hokin Award.

Meter, Rhyme Scheme, and Prosodic Structure

A prosodic analysis of "Victoria's Secret" begins with an evaluation of its metric system. Martin writes the poem in twenty-six lines, and although his style is structured, he employs deviations from the established cadence to accent certain messages and themes. He casts the poem in anapestic pentameter, a rhythm that undulates through the narrative and requires him to push the limits of his rhymes. The strict couplet rhyme scheme (AA, BB, CC) is interrupted only during the last quatrain, which follows the scheme LMLM. The strong couplet rhyme scheme carries important overall value: it regulates the dichotomy between Victorian advice and Martin's transition into mocking contemporary values. He breaks the scheme in order to create a clear distinction between his thematic phases—the narrative description of sex within the Victorian era and his subsequent questioning of our condescension toward their sexual inhibitions.

Anapestic pentameter also produces the unique effect of strongly closing each line while simultaneously launching the next. The heavy emphasis on final syllables creates 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 gives the narrative poem a hard edge. Readers sense the abrupt, almost savage quality of the subject matter because of the abrupt and powerful close of each line.

On a first reading, the repeated AA, BB, CC rhyme scheme might suggest an attempt at Shakespearean sonnet form, and there are genuine stylistic similarities. The particular strength of the couplet pattern is that it allows Martin to draw clear separation between messages every two lines. The ending of each rhyming pair commands a pause, enabling him to turn the poem sharply from one direction to another. Using this strategy, Martin is able to employ different literary devices and narrative directions simultaneously. He ends one couplet with "And try to imagine themselves out buying a new hat" (ln. 4)—an obvious use of imagery—and transitions immediately to "So night after night expeditions grimly set off" (ln. 5). The move from imagery to narration is made seamless by the ending of one linked rhyme pair flowing into the next. This becomes extremely important as the poem continues, because Martin employs the two-line rhyme switch often to shift between imagery, allegory, and narration.

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