Nude Descending A Staircase Analysis

In the poem “Nude Descending a Staircase” the writer, X. J. Kennedy, blatantly introduces the subject of a nude woman. In his poem the speaker is describing an unidentified woman as she travels down a set of stairs. This poem was written as a reaction or response to a painting created by Marcel Duchamp, that was entitled “Nude Descending a Staircase No.2”. Since the poem was a reaction to the art, it is categorized as an ekphrastic piece. In mostly all poems, the writer utilizes various poetic devices to help a reader further understand and develop a deeper meaning to the poem. In this poem Kennedy effectively used the poetic devices of assonance, simile, and rhyme to both portray the significance of a nude woman, such as the one depicted in the artwork, descending a staircase, and to offer insight into the aspects of the painting that are not explicitly observed. The author uses assonance in the first line of the third stanza when he describes the woman as “one-woman waterfall.” Throughout the poem the woman is compared to things of nature. By comparing her to nature, the poet emphasizes the pure perfection of her beauty, because nature is usually regarded as being perfect. The assonance used also further emphasizes that the nude subject is envisioned to be a woman. While the idea was a common conception during the time, it is still a reflection of the gender of the speaker in the poem, because the artist never explicitly depicts a woman in the painting. It is more common for a man to imagine or observe an …show more content…
For this poem, Kennedy uses a painting by Marcel Duchamp as inspiration. In “Nude Descending a Staircase” the significance of the unclothed woman descending the staircase and the expression of the aspects that are not explicitly produced in the artwork, is exemplified though the poet’s use of poetic devices such as assonance, simile, and