'Eat Me' - Patience Agbabi

?
View mindmap
  • 'Eat Me' - Patience Agbabi
    • IMAGERY
      • Water imagery
        • Develops the readers understanding of narrator's exaggerated weight
        • Could be seen to be her power and her tool for control in the close
        • "tidal wave of flesh" of the "beached whale"
        • "he drowned"
      • Allusion to religion and media
        • "forbidden fruit"
          • Allusion to the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis
          • Foreshadows the sinister and evil nature of the relationship in the poem
        • "Too fat"
        • "...the letters were pink, they said, eat me"
          • Could allude to media and film e.g. Alice in Wonderland?
          • Reflects her obedient nature as she "did what [she] was told"
      • Imagery of food
        • Demonstrates the narrator's constant thoughts around food and the inescapable nature of it
        • "olive oil down my throat"
        • "...cake, three layers of icing"
        • Could be argued that imagery of food could reflect how the male uses food to control her
    • STRUCTURE
      • Very rigid structure - emphasises the controlling nature of the male over the narrator
        • Some of the structure breaks after the death of the male, accentuating the narrator's newfound yet doubtful independence
      • Break in structure (stanza 6)
        • Lack of full stop at the end of the stanza
        • Agbabi uses the establish the quickening of the pace in progression
          • Pace increases as tone changes to resentful in the narrator
          • Faces up to taboos around society about weight and uses belligerent tone to attack societal norms and labels
      • Consistent use of full stops at the end of each stanza
        • Reinforces the idea of control in the male character
        • Two full stops used in last stanza
          • Increases dramatic tension as the male character is "drowned"
          • Signifies the end of male control and their overall unhealthy relationship
    • LANGUAGE
      • Male speech is suggestive and puts readers in sense of unease
        • Uses the male to highlight manipulative control and to provoke an uncomfortable atmosphere
      • Alliteration of the narrator's body is used
        • Alliteration helps emphasise the narrator's weight
        • "broad belly" and "judder like a juggernaut"
        • "Bigger the better"
      • Possessive language
        • Use of "he" and "his"
        • Objectifies the female narrator
          • "his Jacuzzi"
          • Emhasises the male domination in the poem
    • FORM
      • Poem made up of ten tercets
        • Rigid form helps link to the idea of control and conformity
      • Irregular rhyme scheme allows Patience to break away from the conventional rhyme scheme
        • Reinforces the idea of her attack on society and taboos
      • Rigid form of poem although lack of rigidity in rhyme scheme
        • Irregular rhyme scheme allows Patience to break away from the conventional rhyme scheme
          • Reinforces the idea of her attack on society and taboos

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Literature resources:

See all English Literature resources »See all Poetry - Poems of the Decade resources »