Eat me by Patience Agbabi

'Eat me' by Patience Agbabi

Mindula Illeperuma

Feminism&Society

Writer's Techniques

• Imagery
• Alliteration
• Semantic Field of water
• Possessive language
• Imperative "EAT ME"
• Plosives, repetition of "b" mimetic of her big size
• Anaphora "too fat"repetition - she has heard it too many times, almost unnecessary: it shouldn't be a label.
• Phonological features "wobble" "judder"
• Asyndetic listing
• "There was nothing left in the house to eat" mainly monosyllabic, a declarative statement to end.

Structure

• Ten tercet stanzas - regimented structure
• Assonance between last word of first and third lines of each stanza
• Tercets - odd number: symbolizes an odd relationship between the woman and feeder. Suggests the expectations that society has are odd.
• Many end-stopped lines: routine and consistency. Final three stanzas also complete with caesuras; symbolizes the man's death

• Feminism looks to view men and women as equal: "I was his Jacuzzi...to watch me swell like forbidden fruit"
• "his flesh, my flesh"
• The imagery used to describe a female's body is grotesque and disturbing, suggests the feelings of the poet toward the expectations society has set for women.
• "desert island after shipwreck"
• "beached whale" -women are trapped, not comfortable in their surroundings.
• "eyes bulging with greed"- men look to devour women, the only emotions they have are greed

Gender

Comparisons...

• The Deliverer
• Look we have coming to Dover!

• "icing" is sweet and sweetness is associated with a woman.
• "white"- - purity, innocence
• "emotional shield" - addresses the insecurities women have based on their appearance and weight.
• "He was my cook" - the cook is in charge of the final product, suggests her life is shaped by the will of the man in her life.
• "soft girls, girls I can burrow inside" - soft suggests weakness, females usually regarded as the weaker gender.

Power

• Male power over a woman
• Female power over her body
• "EAT ME. And I ate, did what I was told"
• "I was his Jacuzzi. But he was my cook"
• "his breadfruit. His desert island..."
• "too fat" - amplified
• "I allowed him to stroke my globe of a cheek"
• "his" becomes "I" we see the power being transferred to the woman.
• Poem only looks at issues women face with their bodies, perhaps addressing stereotypes embedded in society.

Context & Author

• Born in 1965 in London
• Identifies as a feminist
• Described as an "audacious dramatic monologue
• Signifies the pressure put on women by society and the media to meet body standards
• Female power- ownership of their own body
• Male dominance
• Reciprocity in a relationship

Introduction

• Written by Patience Agbabi
• Looks at the idea of a 'feeder role'
• 'Eat me' - the title is an imperative
• Key themes include: 'Power', 'Gender' and 'Feminism and expectations of society'
• Portrays the way in which a man can eat away at a woman, or how women have suffered as a result of patriarchy.