Eat Me - Patience Agbabi
Stanza Quotation Theme Analysis Device
/Line
Title ‘Eat Me’ Power Imperative. Could be Linguistic
confrontational like ‘kiss my ass’.
Monosyllables used
1/1 ‘hit’ Violent verb
1/1 ‘thirty’ Ambiguity from early on in the
poem as ‘thirty’ could be age or
weight
1/1 ‘I hit thirty,’ Caesura shows isolation
1/1 ‘He brought me’ Ambiguous power relationship
1/2 ‘three layers of Sense of unease - three layers of
icing’ cake would be normal, but three
layers of icing is unusual
1/2 ‘home-made’ Has connotations of love
1/2 ‘candle for each Paraprosdokian stanza as it ends in
stone in weight.’ an unexpected way - anticipates
how the poem will end in an
unanticipated way
1 ‘weight.’ Not much flow across the poem -
all stanzas save one are isolated.
Could create suspense or could
show narrator’s isolation
2/1 ‘white’ ‘pink’ Connotations with femininity, but
also infantile.
2/2 ‘EAT ME’ Reference to Alice in Wonderland.
Irony as ‘he’ is eventually eaten in
the end.
2/2 ‘I ate’ Power relationship - change in verb
tense. Like someone responding to
an order.
2/2-3 ‘did what I was Rebellion Could sound furtive and ashamed
told’ or could be defensive, like
someone explaining their actions.
2/3 ‘Didn’t even taste Greed Could signify greed as she ate it so
it.’ quickly, or could show how she is
upset.
3/1 ‘he asked me’ Power Deference - power relationship
3 ‘walk around the Enjambment to show how she is
bed’ physically moving around the bed.
3 ‘judder like a Consonance shows how heavy her
juggernaut’ footsteps are. The repetition of ‘d’
gives the visual sense of a belly
‘juggernaut’ Power
Stanza Quotation Theme Analysis Device
/Line
Title ‘Eat Me’ Power Imperative. Could be Linguistic
confrontational like ‘kiss my ass’.
Monosyllables used
1/1 ‘hit’ Violent verb
1/1 ‘thirty’ Ambiguity from early on in the
poem as ‘thirty’ could be age or
weight
1/1 ‘I hit thirty,’ Caesura shows isolation
1/1 ‘He brought me’ Ambiguous power relationship
1/2 ‘three layers of Sense of unease - three layers of
icing’ cake would be normal, but three
layers of icing is unusual
1/2 ‘home-made’ Has connotations of love
1/2 ‘candle for each Paraprosdokian stanza as it ends in
stone in weight.’ an unexpected way - anticipates
how the poem will end in an
unanticipated way
1 ‘weight.’ Not much flow across the poem -
all stanzas save one are isolated.
Could create suspense or could
show narrator’s isolation
2/1 ‘white’ ‘pink’ Connotations with femininity, but
also infantile.
2/2 ‘EAT ME’ Reference to Alice in Wonderland.
Irony as ‘he’ is eventually eaten in
the end.
2/2 ‘I ate’ Power relationship - change in verb
tense. Like someone responding to
an order.
2/2-3 ‘did what I was Rebellion Could sound furtive and ashamed
told’ or could be defensive, like
someone explaining their actions.
2/3 ‘Didn’t even taste Greed Could signify greed as she ate it so
it.’ quickly, or could show how she is
upset.
3/1 ‘he asked me’ Power Deference - power relationship
3 ‘walk around the Enjambment to show how she is
bed’ physically moving around the bed.
3 ‘judder like a Consonance shows how heavy her
juggernaut’ footsteps are. The repetition of ‘d’
gives the visual sense of a belly
‘juggernaut’ Power
