A WORK OF ARTIFICE: SUMMARY, POETIC DEVICES & QUESTION ANSWERS

 The bonsai tree

in the attractive pot

could have grown eighty feet tall

on the side of a mountain

till split by lightning.

But a gardener

carefully pruned it.

It is nine inches high.

Every day as he

whittles back the branches

the gardener croons,

It is your nature

to be small and cozy,

domestic and weak;

how lucky, little tree,

to have a pot to grow in.

With living creatures

one must begin very early

to dwarf their growth:

the bound feet,

the crippled brain,

the hair in curlers,

the hands you

love to touch. 

Poetic devices of the poem :

1. Metaphor : A bonsai tree is a metaphor for women, who face inequality, discrimination and oppression. The poet uses this to express that women have vast potential to grow and accomplish large things but fail to do so as a result of the manipulations and suppression. 

2. Personification : The poet gives human attributes to the bonsai by using words such as ” “brain”, and “hair”.

3. Apostrophe : The poet makes use of an apostrophe as the gardener addresses both women and the tree. By doing so, Piercy emphasises the way society directly or indirectly prevents women from reaching their full potential. 

4. Symbolism : Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

i. Bonsai tree: Represents the individual restricted by societal expectations.

ii. Gardener: Represents societal forces that control and shape individuals.

iii. Pot: Represents the limitations placed on the individual’s potential.

iv. Bound feet, crippled brain, hair in curlers: These symbolize specific societal practices that restrict individual growth, particularly for women.

Summary :

The poem is narrated in a straightforward manner by an unknown speaker. The speaker describes the relationship between a gardener and a bonsai tree growing in a beautiful pot. Bonsai, a globally popular Japanese gardening technique, involves miniaturizing trees so they can be grown in a pot. It is considered a form of art.

The speaker begins by speculating that in the natural course of things, the bonsai tree would have grows "eighty feet tall" (Line 3) on a mountainside and only cut back if it was "split by lightning" (Line 5). It was saved from this fate by the gardener who grew it indoors and “carefully pruned” (Line 7) it. The speaker refers to the gardener as “he,” (Line 9) indicating the gender. The tree is now nine inches tall, thanks to the care of the gardener. He gently sings to the tree every day as he pares back its branches.

At this point, the narrator imagines the gardener talking to the tree as he attends to it. Referring to the bonsai tree as “you,” the gardener sings that it is the tree’s nature to be small and helpless. Therefore, the little tree is fortunate to have a supporting, safe pot in which it can grow.

In Lines 17-22, the speaker zooms out of the gardener’s point of view and resumes their own narration. According to the speaker, one must start early “to dwarf their growth” (Line 19), as in the case of the bonsai tree. The speaker offers examples of such training, such as binding the feet, which refers to the pre-20th century Chinese beauty practice of binding the feet of women from childhood, so the feet remained tiny and delicate-looking. Often the feet bones were broken to keep the feet from growing too big. Further, the brains of living beings being trained for a specific purpose must be “crippled” (Line 21), or they must be brainwashed. The speaker notes the curling of hair, which refers to beautification. These examples of dwarfing living things involve artificial beauty standards imposed on women.

In the last two lines, Lines 23-24, the narrative voice shifts from the third person to the second person, with the speaker directly addressing the gardener or the reader. The speaker tells the reader the hands of the stunted living creatures must be kept very soft, because these are the hands “you” (Line 24) love touching.