eat me Flashcards
“when I hit thirty, he brought me a cake”
caesura reflects upcoming conflict or that things are not as innocent/ordinary as they appear- foreshadowing
“Hit” also creates a sense of violence and danger and is the first verb used in the poem, between the two introductions of the characters “I hit… he” creating a sense of hidden tension between them
fake narrative at the beginning of the poem and how the form of the poem reflects it
starts innocent with a somewhat regular form (caesura in middle of lines, no enjambment) but once the truth of the narrative is revealed the form unravels and becomes unpredictable- the form reflecting life
fake narrative also forces the reader to question their judgements based on preconceived ideas; e.g. whether the kind/caring actions he does throughout the poem are tainted due to his predatory desires
“eat me”
connotations of sex, indulgence, total consumption/cannibalism, and destruction, therefore tied to feelings of sin and taboo and judgement
“he asked me to…”
“he” means his voice (dual narrative) is part of the narrative and could be reflecting his power/consumption or just love of her
the gentleness of “asked” reflects the judgement that the reader has, trying to find proof of mistreatment/coercion/wrongdoing from him, as his “asked” comes off as grotesque and predatory
terminology for dual narrative/ two expressed viewpoints
heteroglossia
“big girls, soft girls, girls”
his narrative reveals that he is not in love with her as much as what she represents through the use of impersonal nouns of “girls” where she always uses pronouns.
direct quote from his reflects him getting more and more embedded in the narrative, like how he is consuming more and more of the narrator (metaphorically, obvs.)
“I was his Jacuzzi. But..”
imagery of the jacuzzi begins the water motif of the poem
jacuzzis are warm, and inviting but crowded/suffocating/claustrophobic foreshadowing to the end?
maybe a metaphor for the relationship that had once brought her comfort now trapping her, created a sense of tension and dread as she is no longer able to leave the trap- physically or mentallt
“swell like a forbidden fruit”
reference to adam and eve, the sin of temptation and discovery of shame where eve gets blamed - comment on the readers judgement of the narrator
“swelling” also implies the fruit is rotting, reflects her slowly dying in her attempt to be tempting for him, and the destruction on her body
“desert island”
“shipwreck”
“beached whale”
“wave”
“a tidal wave of flesh”
semantic field/motif of water grows as she feels more and more trapped within the relationship
“beached whale” reflecting that she no longer has autonomy, is now a spectacle, stuck to be watched
“a tidal wave of flesh” suggesing danger and uncontrollable, foreshadows her gaining of power, emphasised from pronoun of “his” to “a”
half rhyme
rhyme is used to show who has the power or control, but in this poem no matter the voice it is a half rhyme- reflecting ambiguous and partial power about their relationship and ambiguous blame of their demise
