To Be of Use

hell i amconnotation. What these words imply is not something that is generally received with enthusiasm but is often accepted either by force or obligation. The poem's central theme is that satisfaction and self-fulfillment can be attained by using one's skills to serve a specific function in life, for it is the opinion of the speaker that an unproductive existence has no value or significance because it is vain, and pointless. Piercy uses figurative language, imagery, description, symbolism, and details to develop this theme throughout the poem.

The narrator begins developing the theme in the first stanza by describing the people he loves the best. The speaker states that the people he loves "jump into work head first without dallying in the shallows" (2-3). Using this imagery the speaker reveals that he admires individuals who

get better grades are not afraid of work; rather, they tackle their jobs "head first without dallying." In other words, they are not lazy and do not delay or procrastinate the completion of their duties. The speaker states that the people he regards highly "swim off with sure strokes