Scribd
Upload
60 views

Eating Poetry Part 1

The poem is about a speaker's passionate love of poetry that he consumes greedily. It is described as a celebration of his enjoyment of poetry. The poem uses surreal imagery like dogs with burning legs and rolling eyes coming from the basement. It is written in free verse to reflect the unrestrained love and enthusiasm the speaker feels for poetry.

Uploaded by

lwandlemkhonza96
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
60 views

Eating Poetry Part 1

The poem is about a speaker's passionate love of poetry that he consumes greedily. It is described as a celebration of his enjoyment of poetry. The poem uses surreal imagery like dogs with burning legs and rolling eyes coming from the basement. It is written in free verse to reflect the unrestrained love and enthusiasm the speaker feels for poetry.

Uploaded by

lwandlemkhonza96
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 8

Eating Poetry

By Mark Strand
BIOGRAPHY

• Mark Strand (1934-2014) was a


Canadian poet.
• His poetry is characterised by simple
language and surreal
(strange/dreamlike) imagery.
SUMMARY

• “Eating poetry” is a celebration of the speaker’s love for poetry.


• Poetry is the food for his soul, which he devours greedily.
• The poet uses a number of images that are both real and surreal.
• The dogs that come up from the basement have legs that “burn” and eyes that
“roll”. The link between this image to the ink that “runs from the corners of [the
speaker’s] mouth” suggests that the rabid mad dogs could be a metaphor for the
speaker himself.
• The poem is written in free verse, which reflects the poet’s unrestrained love for
poetry.
TITLE
• The title is a metaphor.
• Reading poetry is compared to
eating food.
• The word “eating” emphasises the
great enthusiasm with which the
speaker reads poetry.
STRUCTURE

• 18 lines
• 6 Stanzas, each with 3 lines (known as
tercets)
• There is no rhyme scheme (free verse)
• There is one example of internal
rhyme in line 12 (“feet” and “weep”).
ANALYSIS
LINES 1-3 (Speaker’s emotional response to poetry)

1: “runs” – emphasises that the speaker has consumed (read) a lot of poetry.

2: hyperbole – poetry has a profound effect on him; it is his passion/makes him


extremely happy

3: “eating” – metaphor; a comparison is made between eating a large meal and


reading a lot of poetry

Punctuation: the full stops at the ends of lines 1-3 reinforce the speaker’s
enjoyment of his experience of reading poetry; the pauses that are created also
force the reader to acknowledge his enjoyment.
LINES 4-6 (Librarian’s reaction to speaker’s behaviour)

4: Literal interp. – The librarian is shocked by the absurdity of the speaker’s actions.

Metaphorical interp. – Perhaps she represents those people who fail to understand the
intense passion they see in others because they themselves have never experienced such
passion.

5: The librarian appears to be jealous of the speaker’s experience of reading poetry; she does
not know what it is like to experience the level of joy that the speaker is experiencing.

6: The librarian seems to be withdrawn and insecure.

Punctuation: The full stops at the ends of lines 5 and 7 reinforce the librarian’s feelings of
powerlessness.
LINES 7-9 (Climax)

7: The speaker has ‘eaten’ (read) all the poems.

8: Atmosphere becomes ominous/threatening/frightening.

The “light” in line 8 might literally refer to the lights in the library, but symbolically they
might refer to the feelings of fulfillment and joy that the speaker experiences whilst he
‘eats’ poetry. Therefore, the ‘dimming’ of the lights might represent a feeling of
disappointment that follows the speaker’s realization that there is no more poetry to
‘eat’.

9: The dogs might be symbolic of what happens to the speaker after the joyous inspiration
is gone. Since they are in the “basement”, they might suggest that these are the speaker’s
darker thoughts and feelings.

Punctuation: In this stanza, the full stops create suspense.

You might also like