Eating Poetry
BY MARK STRAND
Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. There is no happiness like mine. I have been eating poetry. The librarian does not believe what she sees. Her eyes are sad and she walks with her hands in her dress. The poems are gone. The light is dim. The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up. Their eyeballs roll, their blond legs burn like brush. The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep. She does not understand. When I get on my knees and lick her hand, she screams. I am a new man. I snarl at her and bark. I romp with joy in the bookish dark. Mark Strand, “Eating Poetry” from Selected Poems. Copyright © 1979, 1980 by Mark Strand. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.Source: Selected Poems (Alfred A. Knopf, 1991)
Copied from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52959/eating-poetry
Paraphrasing
In my opinion, this poem tells about a man that is experiencing so much joy while he is in a library. It is narrated that the man eats the poetry that the ink runs from his mouth. I can say that he is very fond of poetry that the only thing he can do is eating it. Related to his action of ‘eating poetry’ I guess that he does this peculiar action because he reads so many kinds of poetry and reading the poetry indeed influences our thoughts. Thus I assume that the poetry itself influences his thought so he eats the poetry.
He feels so happy by eating the poetry meanwhile the librarian that sees him cannot do anything towards the man’s peculiar action. The librarian just cannot handle to stop the man so she merely goes away and leaves him with disappointment. It is indicated in the poem that her eyes show her sadness while looking at the man because he destroys the books and her hands in her dress narrate that she is helpless.
However, after eating out all the poetry that nothing lasts, the situation begins to change. It is told that the atmosphere are getting scarier because the light is dim, no longer bright just like in normal library is. It is getting frightening, though, when the dogs are getting upstairs approaching the place where the man and the librarian are.
In the middle of his joy then there rises sadness indicated by the dogs on the basement that seem so angry and come up. The anger on the dogs can be seen through their eyeballs and their legs indicate that problems are approaching the man. This condition then makes the librarian feel scared so she steps away and starts to cry. The librarian does feel so frightened because her feet stamp and she weeps knowing the condition in the library.
Nevertheless, the man thinks that the librarian does not understand his happy feeling. Because he wants to share his delightful feeling, the man approaches her, kneels and suddenly licks her hands just like what dog usually does. This, of course, makes the librarian shock and hysterical.
That is what the man does, indeed. He claims that he is a brand of new man by doing those actions. Even though he looks like a dog, snarling and barking, but he feels so happy being in the room, eating the poetry and surrounded by pile of books that though make the room in the library dark, he still finds the place as heaven where he can play whatever he wants.
Language
The diction that is used in this poem is not really formal indicated by the use of words that are familiar with today’s daily conversation among close fellow. There is no word that makes the chosen words separate the level of the writer and the reader so the reader can easily get into the meaning and understand what the writer wants to convey.
Literary devices
This poem is called sestet because it consists of six stanzas with three lines in each. The rhyme is ABC DEF GHI JKL MMN MOO, indicating that the poem has no certain pattern of rhyme.
There are some figures of speeches that I find from the poetry, covering personification and simile.
Personification: Ink runs from the corners of my mouth (line 1 stanza 1); Her eyes are sad (line 5 stanza 2); The poems are gone (line 7 stanza 3); Their eyeballs roll (line 10 stanza 4)
Simile: their blond legs burn like brush (line 11 stanza 4)
§ Imagery
Visual imagery: Ink runs from the corners of my mouth (line 1 stanza 1); Her eyes are sad (line 5 stanza 2); and she walks with her hands in her dress (line 6 stanza 2); The light is dim (line 8 stanza 3); I romp with the joy in the bookish dark (line 18 stanza 6)
Auditory imagery: The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up (line 9 stanza 3); The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep (line 12 stanza 4); she screams (line 15 stanza 5); I snarl at her and bark (line 17 stanza 6)
Repetition: The word ‘I’ in the last stanza on line 16, 17, and 18
Content Analysis
Theme
I think the theme of the poem is mainly about happiness because it tells the man’s joy of eating poetry in the library that makes him do strange activities to show his happiness.
Atmosphere
There is blend of joy and fear in this poem. We can feel the joy from the man’s description but there is also fear that comes from the librarian and when the dogs are coming. Thus, I can say that the mood of the author is in the position between happy and terror.
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