eating poetry essay 250 words

Eating Poetry Summary & Analysis by Mark Strand

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

"Eating Poetry" is the opening poem in Mark Strand's 1968 collection Reasons for Moving . Using Strand's characteristically dark humor, the poem finds its speaker in the act of "eating" poetry in a library, devouring poems like a ravenous, wild animal. The librarian, for her part, can't believe what she's seeing and becomes increasingly terrified—especially as the speaker's passionate consumption seems to summon dogs from the basement! Surreal and strange, the poem testifies to the wonders of poetry itself—and perhaps suggests that it's not necessary to explain, categorize, or even fully understand poems in order to enjoy them.

• Read the full text of “Eating Poetry”

The Full Text of “Eating Poetry”

“eating poetry” summary, “eating poetry” themes.

The Power of Poetry

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “eating poetry”.

Ink runs from ... ... been eating poetry.

The librarian does ... ... in her dress.

The poems are ... ... and coming up.

Lines 10-12

Their eyeballs roll, ... ... feet and weep.

Lines 13-15

She does not ... ... she screams.

Lines 16-18

I am a ... ... the bookish dark.

“Eating Poetry” Symbols

• Lines 9-11: “The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up. / Their eyeballs roll, / their blond legs burn like brush.”

“Eating Poetry” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Alliteration.

• Line 1: “my mouth”
• Line 6: “walks with,” “her hands,” “her”
• Line 11: “blond,” “legs,” “burn,” “like,” “brush”
• Line 14: “her hand”
• Line 7: “The”
• Line 8: “The”
• Line 9: “The”
• Line 16: “I”
• Line 17: “I”
• Line 18: “I”
• Line 2: “like mine”
• Line 4: “believe,” “she sees”
• Line 8: “is dim”
• Line 12: “feet,” “weep”
• Line 14: “knees”
• Line 15: “she screams”
• Line 16: “am,” “man”
• Line 17: “snarl,” “bark”
• Line 1: “Ink runs,” “corners,” “my mouth”
• Line 3: “eating poetry”
• Line 9: “basement stairs”
• Line 10: “eyeballs roll”
• Line 12: “to stamp,” “feet”
• Line 16: “am,” “new man”
• Line 18: “bookish dark”

End-Stopped Line

• Line 1: “mouth.”
• Line 2: “mine.”
• Line 3: “poetry.”
• Line 4: “sees.”
• Line 6: “dress.”
• Line 7: “gone.”
• Line 8: “dim.”
• Line 9: “up.”
• Line 11: “brush.”
• Line 12: “weep.”
• Line 13: “understand.”
• Line 15: “screams.”
• Line 16: “man.”
• Line 17: “bark.”
• Line 18: “dark.”

Juxtaposition

Extended metaphor.

• Line 1: “Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.”
• Line 3: “I have been eating poetry.”
• Line 7: “The poems are gone.”
• Lines 17-18: “I snarl at her and bark. / I romp with joy in the bookish dark.”
• Line 11: “their blond legs burn like brush.”

“Eating Poetry” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• (Location in poem: Line 11: “their blond legs burn like ,” “brush”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Eating Poetry”

Rhyme scheme, “eating poetry” speaker, “eating poetry” setting, literary and historical context of “eating poetry”, more “eating poetry” resources, external resources.

Mark Strand's Biography — Learn more about Strand's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.  

Strand's Artistic Imagination — A podcast in which Strand talks about creativity and inspiration. 

Strand in His Own Words — An interview in which the poet talks about his early works. 

The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a recording of Strand reading his poem aloud.

Another Side of Strand — Mark Strand was also an accomplished visual artist, making collages like those pictured in this interview. 

Everything you need for every book you read.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Poetry — Imagery in Mark Strands “Eating Poetry”

Imagery in Mark Strands "Eating Poetry"

• Categories: Art and Religion Literature Review Poetry

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Words: 567 |

Published: Mar 16, 2024

Words: 567 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Vivid and sensory language, surreal and dream-like imagery, imagery of transformation and metamorphosis, the enduring power and magic of poetry.

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Poetry Facts

“Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand: An In-Depth Analysis

First published in the 60s, “Eating Poetry” is a typical illustration of the unusual and illusory writing style of Mark Strand, a Canadian-born American poet, writer, and translator who is known for surrealistic, dreamlike, and a little “wild” verse compositions.

Portraying a man devouring poetry and the effect of such consumption on himself and the one who has witnessed – a librarian, “Eating Poetry” is a priceless tribute to the literary work’s power. 

A Summary of “Eating Poetry”

One man’s excessive poetry eating and a librarian’s response are surrealistically portrayed in Mark Strand’s story “Eating Poetry.” The man in the poem claims that nothing brings people greater joy than eating poetry, and that is precisely what he’s been doing.

Meanwhile, the librarian is completely taken aback by the speaker’s actions. To the man, she’s just a poor woman who doesn’t “get it.” He then gets down on his knees and licks her hand, to which the librarian screams in response. He continues to act like a dog, growling and barking at the librarian before bounding around joyfully in the peaceful darkness of the library.

To read the full poem, click here .

The theme of “Eating Poetry”

The poem’s setting is an unknown library, and the story it tells is quite macabre with a man eating poetry, literally. Ink has been running from both sides of his mouth and he then behaves just like a dog. Can you imagine witnessing this? In Strand’s composition, a librarian who has confronted him is speechless. 

With a dreamlike scene of joy sparked from eating poetry, Strand creates a theme of happiness and transformation, as well as surrealism throughout the poem.

• The landscape, characters, and everything in this Strand’s composition appears to be a work of the imagination only. The speaker is engrossed in a hallucinatory and imaginary world, while his actions drag the librarian into the same surreal surroundings. 
• The joy expressed in “Eating Poetry” is also unlike any other experience we are familiar with. Even as the narrator “romps with joy,” we can tell he’s doing so in the “bookish dark.” The speaker devotes his entire life to poetry. He’s reborn as a “new man”, which is a tribute to poetry’s arcane and transformative power.
• Might the narrator be extremely happy, all of his merriment is frightful and inexplicable to the librarian? She “does not believe what she sees” and “does not understand”. With a bizarre and unreal main concept, this poem demonstrates how challenging it is to pin down a notion of common reality.

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“Eating Poetry” Analysis by Stanza

The poem begins in media res, or immediately in the heart of the action. As implied by the title, the narrator is “devouring” poetry.

“Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. There is no happiness like mine. I have been eating poetry”

Although this is a metaphor for reading lines, the stanza very bluntly depicts the process of consumption as though poetry were a delicious dish. Strand uses “runs” for the ink, instead of “drips” or “seeps”, which provides the image of someone eating voraciously.

With a series of short, end-stopped sentences, this introductory stanza creates a vibrant picture. The confident periods closing each line suggest that the person is not in a rush and intends to relish all. Something delectable, excellent, and nutritious has been ingested, and the outcome is favorable –  “There is no happiness like mine.”

The main idea behind this writing is the concept of incomprehensible joy and enthusiasm. Strand illustrates how impractical it is to express the true extent of one’s enjoyment by depicting it as something crazy, such as gobbling up poetry.

Line 4 presents another character, the librarian, who seems to be a lot more normal than the speaker. Beholding such an act of gluttony, she  “does not believe what she sees”.

There is an enjambment between lines 5 and 6, depicting the librarian’s responses:

• She is portrayed as “sad”. Her eyes appear to be filled with sorrow, and she walks “with her hands in her dress,” implying that she is unable to change things.
• The hidden hands also suggest caution and a wish to secure herself.

It is obvious that the librarian stands in stark contrast to the narrator.

Here comes anaphora, the recurrence of “the” at the beginning of each line in this stanza. Mark Strand has purposely utilized the most often used English word, which only ever comes in conjunction with a noun, to develop another sub-plot to the concept of realism against surrealism.

“The poems.. The light.. The dogs…”

These three solid lines bring the readers back into the illusory world of the man. Simple statements are made. The speaker is straightforward to say “The poems are gone”. Off the page and straight into the poetry eater’s stomach, poetry is now a part of the man.

The light in the library is “ dim ”. This has no causal relationship with “eating poetry”. It could be because the library is shutting and lights are switched off, or it could be because nighttime is approaching and the daylight is fading. No matter what the reason is, the dim light contributes to the eerie ambiance.

In the final line of stanza 3, Strand brings extra abnormalities into the verse by abruptly introducing dogs.

The man fails to see them, but he can listen to them. These animals appear to have come from nowhere and are making their way up the stairs, which raises further questions:  Why are they here? Are these the canines of the subconscious, or are they representations of wild, free, and uncontrollable energy?

The fourth one describes the dogs in a similar way to how the second stanza portrays the librarian.

• “Their eyeballs roll,” a sign of insanity, depicts a crazed or frenzied loss of control.
• The alliterating words, “blond legs burn like brush”, give the dogs a scary and feral appearance.

While the flaming image of dogs stands out against the dim lighting, the “poor” librarian is beginning to lose her calm. She is unable to handle the circumstance that is unfolding in front of her. The internal rhyme in “stamp her feet and weep” has created an image of a miserable librarian.

From now on, the library’s quietness and peace have been altered. The imagery in these sentences is striking. The poetry the man has read, which now gets inside him, brings these scenes to reality.

Mark Strand keeps up his style of short sentences with end punctuation in the last two stanzas.

He continues that the librarian does not “ understand ” what’s going on in front of her, either  symbolically or physically . She is completely an outsider who is at a loss in this situation. And perhaps this image of the librarian also reflects the types of bookish people who study topics yet don’t acquire a sense of the actual world.

Might the narrator have a reasonable, common-sense answer to the librarian, he has been turned into a dog himself and starts to “ lick ”. Screams ensue naturally since her hand is now drenched in dog drool which is likely mixed with the leftover ink.

There are numerous contrasts within the verse, but none are as vital as this last one. The narrator, poet eater, or dog-man has become a “new man”.

He has devoted his own old self to his passion and evolved into an enthusiastic, well-fed, active romper, delighted to show his passion for poetry:  “romping with joy in the bookish dark” . The dog portrayed now is much less scary and the dark has a light of wisdom – “ bookish ” – rather than the hellish one in stanza 4.

Strand’s poem comes to a close with the rhymes  “bark”  and  “dark”.  In the final lines, there is also a mixture of both  “joy”  and  “dark” . These bring the poem to a melodious, gratifying end, evoking the speaker’s joy at being filled up with poetry.

In the meantime, what happens to the librarian? The audience is allowed to guess, which may be a nice sign.

Literary Devices Used in “Eating Poetry”

Although “Eating Poetry” uses few poetic devices, they are nevertheless quite good. Anaphora is probably the easiest one to spot. Take note of how some stanzas, like the third and last one, begin with the same words. Short, direct lines employing the most fundamental words available in the English language.

The word “the” is used in the third stanza along with a noun, an entity that is hard to define in and of itself. In this instance, the poet deliberately used it to develop yet another sub-plot related to the issue of realism against surrealism.

“Eating Poetry” sounds more clearly poetic when another literary device, alliteration, is used. Alliteration is like a display of celebratory fireworks in a poem that is all about the joyous powers of poetry. It appears in a number of lines in the poem, including the first line.

Ink runs from the corners of  m y  m outh.

The word “my mouth” is emphasized by the humming /m/ sound, which also gives the impression that the speaker is cramming as much poetry as he possibly can into his body.

The Style of “Eating Poetry”

Mark Strand’s poem “Eating Poetry” has six stanzas piece of poetry broken into tercets (groups of 3 lines). Its language is straightforward, and the sentences follow a structure of subject-verb-object.

This poem is composed in free verse since its lines have inconsistent lengths and adhere to no set rhyme scheme or metrical structure.

Nonetheless, this does not imply that the verse lacks any form of organization. There are still pretty steady iambic rhythms at times. The poem also contains various rhetorical devices, along with the use of half-rhyme. Finally, the 2 final lines end the poem in a melodious and gratifying way.

In addition, these neat lines do give the poem an episodic attribute, moving from frame to frame and generating tension along the way. That there’s no meter also somehow reflects the speaker’s primordial and animalistic conduct.

Symbolism in “Eating Poetry”

“Eating Poetry” illustrates the marvelous transformative power of poems in a comic dark and surreal way. This poem amplifies how silent lines may elicit strong emotions in readers and transform them. Poetry consumption does not only bring exceptional pleasure but also transforms a person into a turbulent creature, a “burning dog”.

Furthermore, there is also a stark contrast between the narrator, who turns into a dog for his happiness of eating poetry, and the librarian, who is completely shocked at what she confronts.

The librarian should love literature, and the one who eats poetry is also passionate about poems. Two people can love one thing in different ways. Not less, just different. Yet such a dissimilarity makes it a struggle for them to understand each other. Genuine love can affect one’s being, which is way too weird for outsiders to grasp the idea.

The librarian’s existence may also allude to the necessity to classify and defend lingo, whereas the narrator chooses to just consume it. The speaker’s actions, then, may reveal how the narrator (and possibly the author himself) believes verses should be read: with appreciation, excitement, and passion.

Mark Strand is notable for his unique and “eccentric” poetry that challenges the audience to reinvent one or many themes.

And “Eating Poetry” is one of Strand’s beautiful pieces of poetry, with 18 lines arranged into 6 stanzas. Written in free verse and with a few poetic devices, the poem still impresses its readers with anaphora and alliteration.

This work combines aspects of both comedy and fantasy , as implied by its name. The man’s transformation indicates happiness and the power of poetry consumption.

That said, once consumed in public, poetry might become an unsettling power that many just can not grasp. That the man stands in stark contrast with the librarian means the difference in the way we love the same thing. Love, especially to poetry, can be powerful, even frightful, and inexplicable to many.

Long hair, short-sighted eyes – I am a mix of contradictory things. Also, a poem & art enthusiast.

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Eating Poetry by Mark Strand: poem analysis

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This is an analysis of the poem Eating Poetry that begins with:

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. There is no happiness like mine....

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Eating Poetry by Mark Strand Analysis

This blog, Eating poetry by mark strand Analysis, will unveil the hidden meaning of this symbolic poem. Mark strand wrote this poem in 1980, and soon after, it won various hearts across the globe due to its unique subject matter. Eating poetry is a surreal, dreamlike poem set in a small library. The poem’s narrator has been eating the magical words of the poets, and the librarian gets upset while watching his poetry-fueled actions.

The poem begins with a strange image when the speaker is eating poetry, ink is running from his mouth, and he is experiencing extreme happiness. The librarian is presenting a contrast to the speaker, who fails to understand the reason for his odd choice. She has no idea what the speaker is going through and why poetic words become the reason for his transformation. After consuming the poetry, the joy and light of the moment get dim. The dogs appear in the scene from nowhere and begin to climb up the stairs.

Although he can’t see the dogs, yet he can hear their bark. To our surprise, the dog’s leg starts to burn, and this incident further upsets the librarian. She can’t handle the situation happening in front of her. As the poem goes on, we discover that the speaker himself has transformed into a dog. He sits on his knees and starts licking the librarian’s hand, who is in complete shock upon his unimaginable transformation.

Eating Poetry by Mark Strand Themes

The poem , earing poetry, unfolds many themes, including reality versus imagination, surprise, transformation, and magic of poetry. This poem is about how the magical words of the poets and writers transform those who read and digest them. The speaker of the poem seems passionate about poetry. That is why he eats it and becomes an entirely different person

Although the title may lead us to think of a person tearing the pages, chewing, and eating, the description is metaphorical. The writer has presented us with a person who gets completely absorbed into the realm of the poetic world. His actions and reactions give goosebumps to the librarian, noticing his weird yet meaningful transformation. To the librarian, the speaker seems odd, crazy, and horrifying. However, when we cater to the speaker’s feelings, he is delighted.

From start to end, every verse of this poem brings various surprises and makes us imagine what happens when someone completely surrenders to the magic of any art. He not only feels a drastic change in himself but also makes others feel this change, too. He does not even think about the librarian, who is shocked at his destructive and animalistic behavior. In fact, poetry awakened some p A literary device in which vowel sounds are repeated quickly, such as; “light is dim” and “feet and weep.” The sound of /i/ and /e/are repeated in these verses rime happiness within the speaker which he fails to hold back.

Techniques Used in “Eating Poetry by Mark Strand”

Mark Strand has inserted various literary as well as poetic devices in this poem to express his utmost joy. The devices used in the poem are given below.

• Assonance:  A literary device in which vowel sounds are repeated in quick succession such as; “light is dim” and “feet and weep.” The sound of /i/ and /e/are repeated in these verses.

2. Consonance :  It is also a literary device in which consonant sounds are repeated in a sentence, e.g., “did not die” and “backseat behind.” The repetition of /b/ and /d/ shows the occurrence of consonant sounds in quick possession.

3. Imagery :  Imagery is used by poets and writers to create mental images in the audience’s mind. Naomi has used this device effectively in the poem, such as; “her hands in” and “she screams.”

4. Personification :  Personification is to give human qualities to lifeless objects. The writer has used this device in the opening line to personify ink, saying that it runs from the corners of his mouth.

5. Metaphor :  The writer has used joy as an extended metaphor in this poem to show how it changes a person.

6. Symbolism:  Symbolism uses signs and symbols to create deeper meanings in the poem. Mark has used various symbol in the poem For instance, “eating” symbolizes the understanding, “dogs” stand for strong imagination.

Stanza:  Stanza is a poem’s division into two or more lines that work as a single unit. There are six equal length stanzas in this poem.

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Eating Poetry

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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.

From   Collected Poems   by Mark Strand. Copyright © 2014 by Mark Strand. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Eating Poetry Literary Elements

By mark strand.

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Written by Lina Christoph

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

The poem is entirely told from the perspective of the poem-eating first-person narrator

Form and Meter

The poem consists of 6 stanzas of 3 lines each, with no consistent meter. There is no consistent rhyme scheme; only infrequent rhyming couplets (stanza 5, line 13 and 14; stanza 6, line 17 and 18)

Metaphors and Similes

Alliteration and assonance.

Assonance: l. 3: “believe what she sees” l. 12: “feet and weep”

Alliteration: l. 11: “blond legs bum like brush”

Surreal, abstract poem

The presence of books and a librarian suggests that the poem takes place in a library. The narrator states to have been eating poetry until the light is dim, suggesting that the time is close to evening.

The tone of the poem is dark, confusing and appearing to be somewhat dangerous, portrayed mainly with the unsettled and frightened reactions of the librarian. The narrator behaves very oddly, taking pleasure in literally consuming (and thus destroying) poetry and scaring the librarian by making her scream.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The poem-eating narrator serves both as the protagonist and antagonist of the poem. While he retells the events from his point of view and the reader experiences the action from his perspective, his behavior and treatment of the librarian is brazenly villainous and the poem ends with the narrator transforming into an animal-like state.

Major Conflict

The major conflict in the poem is between the narrator and the librarian. As librarian, she is in charge of the library’s content, which the narrator is willfully destroying. When the seemingly unsettled and frightened librarian attempts to confront the narrator, he, in an even odder behavior, licks her hand and makes her scream. The poem ends with the narrator snarling at the librarian, displaying an even more hostile attitude than before.

The climax of the poems happens in line 14, when the narrator is licking the librarian’s hand. Up until this point, the narrator has been eating poetry, but in this moment he seems to fully transform into a new, more animalistic being, embracing this new side of himself.

In the same sense it is the moment when the librarian’s underlying fear culminates in a scream after the narrator’s unexpected and un-welcomed first touch between the two. This moment changes both their relationship and the narrator’s self.

Foreshadowing

In the first stanza, the narrator expresses happiness about consuming poetry, which is a foreshadowing to him fully accepting this darker side of him later in the poem.

The second stanza slightly foreshadows the librarian’s fear and puts a focus on her hands (l. 6), which will later get licked.

Understatement

Metonymy and synecdoche.

Synecdoche: l. 5: "Her eyes are sad"

Personification

l. 2: "There is no happiness like mine."

Onomatopoeia

l. 12: "stamp" & "weep" l. 17: "snarl" & "bark"

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Eating Poetry Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Eating Poetry is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

"Eating Poetry"

The metaphor alludes to the narrator's joy.... his consumption of poetry. He has literally been "eating poetry."

Eating Poetry Question-Characters

The dog is merely a human (man) acting like a dog. In my opinion, the dogs exist only in the man's mind. I do not believe the lighting is meant to scare us, but rather, illustrate the passage of time.

Do you associate certain things with librarians versus say comedians?

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Study Guide for Eating Poetry

Eating Poetry study guide contains a biography of Mark Strand, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Eating Poetry
• Eating Poetry Summary
• Character List

Essays for Eating Poetry

Eating Poetry essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Eating Poetry by Mark Strand.

• An Analysis of "Eating Poetry"