1
“Eating Poetry” is a short
1. Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. poem in free verse, its
2. There is no happiness like mine.
eighteen lines divided
3. I have been eating poetry.
POET:
into six stanzas. The title
4. The librarian does not believe what she sees.
Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – suggests either comedy
5. Her eyes are sad
November 29, 2014) was a 6. and she walks with her hands in her dress. or surrealism, and the
Canadian-born American editor, poem contains elements
7. The poems are gone.
translator and prose writer. The 8. The light is dim. of both. Mark Strand uses
9. The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.
hallmarks of his style are precise the first person to create
language, surreal imagery and the 10. Their eyeballs roll, a persona whose voice is
11. their blond legs burn like brush.
recurring theme of absence. He was Strand’s but whose
12. The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.
appointed Poet Laureate experience is imaginary.
13. She does not understand.
Consultant in Poetry to the Library of 14. When I get on my knees and lick her hand,
Congress in 1990 and received the 15. she screams.
Wallace Stevens Award in 2004. 16. I am a new man.
Many poems in his first book show a 17. I snarl at her and bark.
18. I romp with joy in the bookish dark.
focus on how an individual struggles
to find his/her place in the world. He
also writes a lot about the “fight”
between light and dark and what
each symbolizes.
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 2
1. Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
2. There is no happiness like mine.
3. I have been eating poetry.
4. The librarian does not believe what she sees.
5. Her eyes are sad
6. and she walks with her hands in her dress.
7. The poems are gone.
8. The light is dim.
9. The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up. Summary:
10. Their eyeballs roll, The poem opens with the speaker eating
11. their blond legs burn like brush.
poetry while ink runs from the corners of his
12. The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.
mouth. A librarian spots him and doesn’t
13. She does not understand.
understand what she’s seeing. After all the
14. When I get on my knees and lick her hand,
15. she screams. poems are eaten, a bunch of dogs start
coming up the stairs while their eyeballs roll
16. I am a new man.
17. I snarl at her and bark. and their legs “burn like brush”. The librarian
18. I romp with joy in the bookish dark.
Contrast: starts to stamp her feet and weep because
she doesn’t understand. The speaker licks
“The light is dim” Literally: the dim
her hand and she screams. He snarls and
lighting in the library as it gets late;
barks at her. Then he romps with joy in the
Figuratively: the inspiration and that
“bookish dark”
joyous moment the speaker just had
while eating poetry fades.
@Juffrou_Ansie
“Eating Poetry” is a short
1. Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. poem in free verse, its
2. There is no happiness like mine.
eighteen lines divided
3. I have been eating poetry.
POET:
into six stanzas. The title
4. The librarian does not believe what she sees.
Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – suggests either comedy
5. Her eyes are sad
November 29, 2014) was a 6. and she walks with her hands in her dress. or surrealism, and the
Canadian-born American editor, poem contains elements
7. The poems are gone.
translator and prose writer. The 8. The light is dim. of both. Mark Strand uses
9. The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.
hallmarks of his style are precise the first person to create
language, surreal imagery and the 10. Their eyeballs roll, a persona whose voice is
11. their blond legs burn like brush.
recurring theme of absence. He was Strand’s but whose
12. The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.
appointed Poet Laureate experience is imaginary.
13. She does not understand.
Consultant in Poetry to the Library of 14. When I get on my knees and lick her hand,
Congress in 1990 and received the 15. she screams.
Wallace Stevens Award in 2004. 16. I am a new man.
Many poems in his first book show a 17. I snarl at her and bark.
18. I romp with joy in the bookish dark.
focus on how an individual struggles
to find his/her place in the world. He
also writes a lot about the “fight”
between light and dark and what
each symbolizes.
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 2
1. Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
2. There is no happiness like mine.
3. I have been eating poetry.
4. The librarian does not believe what she sees.
5. Her eyes are sad
6. and she walks with her hands in her dress.
7. The poems are gone.
8. The light is dim.
9. The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up. Summary:
10. Their eyeballs roll, The poem opens with the speaker eating
11. their blond legs burn like brush.
poetry while ink runs from the corners of his
12. The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.
mouth. A librarian spots him and doesn’t
13. She does not understand.
understand what she’s seeing. After all the
14. When I get on my knees and lick her hand,
15. she screams. poems are eaten, a bunch of dogs start
coming up the stairs while their eyeballs roll
16. I am a new man.
17. I snarl at her and bark. and their legs “burn like brush”. The librarian
18. I romp with joy in the bookish dark.
Contrast: starts to stamp her feet and weep because
she doesn’t understand. The speaker licks
“The light is dim” Literally: the dim
her hand and she screams. He snarls and
lighting in the library as it gets late;
barks at her. Then he romps with joy in the
Figuratively: the inspiration and that
“bookish dark”
joyous moment the speaker just had
while eating poetry fades.
@Juffrou_Ansie
