Eating Poetry (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Mark Strand
- First Published: 1968
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Dogs, Poetry or poets, Books, Libraries or librarians, Reading, Eating customs
The Poem
“Eating Poetry” is a short poem in free verse, its eighteen lines divided into six stanzas. The title suggests either comedy or surrealism, and the poem contains elements of both. Mark Strand uses the first person to create a persona whose voice is Strand’s but whose experience is imaginary; indeed, the fact that the poem is a work of imagination is the main point.
The story of “Eating Poetry” is simple enough. The speaker is in a library, where he is eating, not reading, poetry. After he has eaten “The poems,” the speaker is confronted by a...
[The entire page is 1522 words long]
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