Insignificance of Existence Strong and cynical in its tone, Gioia's poem, "Pity for the Beautiful" aligns with the typical writing style of New Formalism of the author. Gioia also challenges his predictable pattern of incorporating a rather simplistic rhyme scheme, while maintaining a stern and meaningful message throughout the piece. The first four-line stanza issues a condescending and condescending condemnation of various types of people, and as the poem progresses, all aspects of Gioia's pessimistic, but obviously true, remarks about our existence end up cheapening human life. It is as if the unfortunately intimidating theme of the poem – the insignificance of existence – could be explained by a sarcastic mockery of our genuine efforts to actually become meaningful. In the first four lines of the poem, Gioia has already condemned certain aspects of human nature by mocking our innate nature. desires for wealth, attraction, innocence and material possessions. We are subjected to his subconscious rebuke of our greed through the third line of the poem. This phrase suggests that man's superficial desires lead to shameful acts, such as marrying someone for money alone (3-4). Elizabeth Bishop, the late renowned poet, who is said to have greatly influenced Gioia's writing style, speaks on a similar subject in her poem titled "One Art." The poem suggests that our losses hurt, but it is not actually a "disaster (15)", suggesting that indeed the affections and things we adore are only temporary and, furthermore, that losing these items is actually much less painful than what we initially had. presume. The “golden boys” (6), who tend to prosper, serve as an allusion to Shakespeare's Cymbeline. Ironically, in Shakespeare's play, the "golden boys" (generally considered the most dignified people with...... middle of paper ...... roughly during the period of World War II, when the poetry actually rhymed, and was metrical (Balee, Susan, Gioia tends to avoid ornate and complex words; he instead aims to express his ideas through common words: "puffy" (14), "shine" (20 ), “dozens upon dozens.” (10) This allows readers to focus primarily on the meaning of the poem, rather than the vocabulary of “Pity the Beautiful” – ABCB. besides the ease of reading and understanding. and the accessibility reinforces the direct tone of Gioia It is transparent without becoming flat, surprising without going to extremes The critical and condescending condemnation towards various types of people is expressed through. allusions, irony and diction choices, combining to create the theme: the insignificance of. existence.