All Bread (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Margaret Atwood
- First Published: 1978
- Type of Work: Lyric/meditation
- Genres: Poetry, Meditation
- Subjects: Christianity, Food, Rites or ceremonies, Jesus Christ, Life, philosophy of, Life, biological, Baking
The Poem
“All Bread” is a short poem in free verse, comprising four stanzas of uneven length. The poem’s central premise is the interdependence of humans and the earth and the cyclical rhythms of that relationship. A parallel interdependence between males and females is also implicit in this premise. Bread is the archetypal product of the earth, both the “staff of life” and an element of sacrifice and sacrament. The mundane yet important ritual of making and consuming bread shapes the poem and provides its central metaphor.
The poem’s four stanzas trace the...
[The entire page is 1387 words long]
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