Modern poetry summaries
Eat Me- Patience Agbabi
Summary/Meaning Structure
From the perspective of a girl in a ABAB rhyme scheme
relationship based off of a sexual desire for Some half rhyme- uncertainty &
the girl to become extremely fat. The man emphasises disturbance, making the
cooks her food and makes her eat masses of reader on edge
it. As she grows in size, he takes much 30 lines, 10 tercets, regular-
pleasure in this. Eventually, his desires are constant control
the thing that kills him, with her getting on
him and ‘drowning’ him.
Quotes & Analysis Themes
‘When I hit thirty, he brought me a cake, Control
three layers of icing, home-made, a candle Objectification
for each stone in weight’- Verb ‘hit’ negative Bodily stereotypes
connotations to tunring 30, significant as this Presentation of women
is repeated in 8 stanza emphasises
th
Presentation of men
repetitive loop, control, no escape. Cake use Attitudes towards women
as summary for women, no interest in her Passivity vs power (and how this can
personal life. shift)
‘EAT ME. And I ate, did what I was told.
Didn’t even taste it’- imperative. ‘The icing was white but the letters
Monosyllabic declaratives, enjambement- were pink’- colour imagery.
compliance, but doesn’t want to. ‘stereotypical’ girly colours. Men put
‘Then he asked me to get up and walk round no thought into what the girl’s
the bed so he could watch by road belly favourite colours may actually be.
wobble, hips judder like a juggernaut’- Childlike colours- ownership
assonance, simile, double consonants- ‘Open wide, poured olive oil down
comedic but disturbing tone, objectification. my throat’- Italics. Passive, Childish
Verb ‘watch’- perverted & disturbing when treatment, Parents/Doctors- medical
described with the other imagery procedure. Doesn’t care about her
‘I like big girls, soft girls, girls I can burrow pleasure, very fattening
inside with multiple chins, masses of ‘Soon you’ll be forty… he
cellulite’- Italics, emphasis on his control, whispered’- Weight milestone.
noticeable on page, we must listen & obey Ellipses- women’s discomfort.
‘swell like forbidden fruit’- simile- unhealthy, Whispering- secretively evil
connotations of the fall, she is the cause of ‘how could I not roll over on top’-
human downfall rhetorical, but no question mark-
‘I was a tidal wave of flesh’ ‘my flesh suggests not to question it as there
flowed’- metaphors, water imagery. is no other option. Power dynamic,
, Dangerous & uncontrollable. Foreshadows making her own decisions.
end of pome where water surrounds him and ‘I rolled and he drowned/in my
he dies. flesh’- enjambement- ambiguity of
‘I was his Jacuzzi’- metaphor- pleasure death, but then it is emphasised that
‘swimming’ in her, objectifying she was in control of it- power
‘too fat’ x3.’too fat to be called chubby, dynamic.
cuddly, big-built’- Anaphoric repetition, ‘I left him there for six hours that
triadic structure. Constant feeling of felt like a week. His mouth left
uselessness, no excuse for how a women slightly open, his eyes bulging with
looks. If a women is too’ fat she cannot have greed. There was nothing else left
feelings. in the house to eat.’- perhaps as
‘I allowed him to stroke my globe of a she’s so used to him cooking for her
cheek’- metaphor- larger than the universe, all the time. Or she misses him,
objectifies. Verb ‘allowed’ 8th stanza- power parallel to Porphyria’s lover, when
shift he strangles his lover as he can’t
‘breadfruit’ ‘desert island after a shipwreck’- cope with his emotions towards her
16-17th century Metaphysical poets, e.g. John and appears to be more in love with
Donne. Often used geographical imagery to her after her death than alive.
describe sexual conquest Bodily imagery, disturbing. Perhaps
'a beached whale on a king-size bed craving admiring him more now he’s dead/
a wave’- metaphor, made her so big she Unsettling image, ambiguous. Title,
cannot move without water to help her, ‘Eat me’. Power dynamic. Does it
needs to float to move. imply she ate him?
Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass- Simon Armitage
, Summary/Meaning Structure
The personification of the chainsaw and the Free verse
pampas grass creates a disturbing/intense 9 stanzas
story line of a person using their aggressive Stanza’s about the Pampas Grass are
chainsaw to cut pampas grass shorter, perhaps the chainsaw is
jealous and doesn’t want it to have
more spotlight then it already does.
Quotes & Analysis Themes
Title: Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass- Aggressiveness
Pampas Grass known for being owned by Innocence
people with a swinger lifestyle. Some kind of Murder
battle. Contrasts in objects in battle Corporeal imagery
‘grinding it’s teeth in a plastic sleeve, the Disturbance
chainsaw swung nose-down from a hook in Destroying life
the darkroom under the hatch in the floor’- Ruthlessness
personification, animalistic language, Predatory vs Prey
predatory. Suggestions of trying to hide it- Abuse of power
dangerous ‘Probably all that was needed here
‘When offered the can it knocked back a was a good pull or shove or a
quarter-pint of engine oil and juices ran pitchfork to lever it out at it’s base.
from it’s joints and threads, oozed across Overkill’- Noun- unnecessary
the guide bar and the maker’s name’- destruction. Abuse of power.
personification, intransitive verb. People Suggests more pleasure when using
drink alcohol before they do something bad. chainsaw- disturbing- aggressive
Desires to reduce safety nature of the speaker
‘the summerhouse, still holding one last ‘docked a couple of heads,
gulp of last year’s heat behind its double dismissed the top third of its canes
doors, and hung with the weightless with a sideways sweep at shoulder
wreckage of wasps and flies, moth-balled in height- this was a game.’- Caesura,
spiders wool…’- personification of hyphen, corporeal imagery. You
summerhouse. Verb ‘gulp’ is humanistic. dock animals, animalistic imagery.
Verb ‘hung’ parallels to ‘swung’ in 1st stanza. Sibilance of ‘sideways sweep’- ease
Alliteration & juxtaposition- tries minimising of killing. ‘Game’- takes pleasure in
it’s damage but is striking. Man made to kill. this
Ellipses- on edge, predatory ‘plant juice spat from the pipes and
‘fed it out like powder from a keg, then tubes’- vivid, corporeal, humanistic-
walked back to the socket and flicked the disturbing
switch, then walked again and coupled the 6th Stanza- ‘To clear a space for
saw to the flex-clipped them together. Then work I raked’- Softer language when
dropped the safety catch and gunned the a new tool is used.
trigger’- Chronologically describing his ‘Then cut and raked, cut and raked,
actions- purposeful. Simile for gun-powder- till what was left was a flat stump
scheming & destructive. Removes safety. the size of a manhole cover or
