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Transcript

'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.
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