Marge Piercy is a well-known author of many novels, including the New York Times best seller Gone to Soldiers. She was born March 31st, 1936 and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She was born into a working class Jewish family who struggled to stay afloat in the Great Depression. Not only is she a graduate of The University of Michigan and Northwestern University, she is also the first in her family to attend college. By winning a Hopwood Award for Poetry and Fiction, she was able to finish college and spend some time in France. Her first book of poems, "Breaking Camp," was published in 1968. She is a very well-known social activist, for things like anti-Vietnam war and the woman’s movement. Her novels and poetry often focus on feminist or social…show more content… The poem begins: "The people I love the best jump into work head first..." and ends: "The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real." These lines, along with the title, suggest that Piercy's message is that we should each find our unique purpose in this world and strive "To Be of Use." In the first stanza she makes it very clear that she enjoys being around hard-working people. They are so consumed with their work that they seem "like half submerged balls" floating in the open water. The tone for this particular stanza is adoration for the people who work hard in their life, and less depressing and suppressive towards…show more content… One particular form that she uses is personification: "A pitcher cries for water to carry." By the pitcher crying for meaningful work, it is easy for us to imagine ourselves doing the same. Also, it is quite ludicrous that we strive to use certain object appropriately, yet we do not expect the same for one another. Piercy's use of personification- the comparison between objects and people- also suggest that we each have different purposes in life. Just like Hopi vases are designed to hold corn, we are all meant to do something different. In addition to figurative language, Piercy’s point of view helps us see how she feels. She writes in first person, and says things like "I love people who" and "I want to be with people who". By using these phrases she encourages the people who reads this poem to become one of the people she