AT THE GYM

At the Gym



Outline

Introduction

In introduction we provide a genral overview about the poem. Also we provide some details about the author.

Analysis

Under this heading we critically analysed the whole poem. We analysed that In his poem `At the gym ' Mark Doty is excessive in his shrouding his message about the gym as a spa and a exhaustive place where men waste their energy lifting weights which benefit the muscles rather than reduce the weight of human life burden in these men. But the metaphor `salt stain ' tell away on what he apes so empirically that he makes the situation to resonate with less valour but more adorned conquest of egoistic aspirations, hence his intrinsic assertion that we strive this much for no other reason better than becoming physically appealing personalities. `

Conclusion

We concluded that Mark Doty want to deny he's writing Light Verse, and then capitulates to his own anxiety, making his characters blurt out their unattractive desire to be loved just like everybody else. For brief yet significant moments, these calls for self-pity can make a narrator, and worse, the poem unattractive.

At the Gym

Introduction

According to Mark Doty's poem "At the Gym," we, as gay men, may need to look "beneath" our vanity to find "something tenderer" in our desire to work out. To simply want to be beautiful can't satisfy Doty; he needs to offer an argument. In his best poems such as Tiara, Mercy on Broadway, and Homo Will Not Inherit essential reading for any Gay and Lesbian Literature class, he excelled in making didacticism beautiful. Too often that stupid creative writing mantra "Show doesn't tell" renders itself useless. As a result of the awful political predicament gay men find themselves, it's imperative to tell and tell. And then tell some more. Doty knew that. That's one of the many wonderful aspects of those historically important poems.

Analysis

In "At the Gym" it's confusing who he wants to tell what. Is he trying to make gay men "feel less bad" for their obsession with working out? If he is, he needs to back off, and stop trying to depathologize gay men's intense connection with gym equipment. Everyone has their fetishes; why does ours need to be justified? To anyone, especially ourselves? If he perceives his audience as straight, why does he once again need to invoke the spiritual to justify what he fears ...