Eating+Poetry

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This poem appears to be a poem about immersing oneself in reading poetry; a man who becomes consumed with the beautiful words--and people do not seem to understand the thing that has taken over his life so fully. This characteristic of Modernism fits the category of a "cognitive thought-provoking experience" (Melton NP). When one reads the poem, there is one obvious interpretation to it.The obvious interpretation is that the poem is about a man obsessed with poetry--so much that ink runs down his mouth, as if to signify literally eating the poetry. The man is in a library, and the librarian is disgusted at how the man is eating the books. Suddenly, the man has run out of poetry to read, and goes crazy. Poetry is the mans life; without it, he goes insane. The lights go dim, and dogs come up the stairs on fire. The man licks the librarian's hand--as if to show a sign of his very insanity (Strand. "//Eating Poetry.//").

However, when taken literally, this poem can be interpreted to mean that enough is as good as a feast. When one devours too much of something, whether it be written words or food, one becomes tired of it--or even becomes greedy for more. A part of "//Eating Poetry//" that suggests greediness is when the central character is described as becoming a dog after the poetry is all gone. The man devoured too much poetry too quickly, and it leads towards the downward spiral of insanity (Strand. "//Eating Poetry.//").

Mark Strand had actually wanted to be a painter, up until the age of twenty (Bloom NP). One can see evidence of this through the imagery that this poet's imagery evokes scenes reminiscent of those in paintings. One example is in his poem,"//My Mother On An Evening in Late Summer//": My mother will go indoors and the fields, the bare stones will drift in peace, small creatures -- the mouse and the swift -- will sleep at opposite ends of the house. Only the cricket will be up, repeating its one shrill note to the rotten boards of the porch, to the rusted screens, to the air, to the rimless dark, to the sea that keeps to itself. Why should my mother awake? The earth is not yet a garden about to be turned. The stars are not yet bells that ring at night for the lost. It is much too late (Strand. "//My Mother On An Evening in Late Summer.//"). //Eating Poetry// can be compared to the other two poems, in the aspect that they all address the topic of being utterly consumed and obsessed with something (Strand NP). In //Astigmatism//, the main character vainly searches to find beauty (Lowell NP) In //The Egg//, the family becomes obsessed with the American dream of achieving success in life. Finally, in //Eating Poetry//, the main character has an obsession with poetry that causes insanity (Anderson NP).

In conclusion, "//Eating Poetry"// is a good example of Modernism because of "cognitive thought-provoking experience" (Melton NP). One cannot decide whether the man is literally or figuratively insane because of the lack of poetry. The poem gets one thinking to find the best explanation (Strand. "//Eating Poetry."//).


 * __Works Cited__**

Melton Ph.D, Lili. "Modernism in Literature and History - by Lili Melton Ph.D. - Helium." //Helium - Where Knowledge Rules//. Web. 25 Apr. 2010. .

Bloom, Harold, ed. "Strand, Mark." //Mark Strand//, Bloom's Major Poets. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2003. //Bloom's Literary Reference Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BMPMS02&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 3, 2010).

Strand, Mark. "Eating Poetry." //SCCS - Swarthmore College Computer Society//. Web. 03 May 2010. [].

Strand, Mark. "My Mother on an Evening in Late Summer." //Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More//. Web. 05 May 2010. [].

Anderson, Sherwood. "The Egg." //Ibiblio.org - Math//. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. []. Lowell, Amy. "Astigmatism." //Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More//. Web. 04 May 2010. [].