Al Part 2- Poetry

Margaret Atwood
IOC

Name

Block

HL/SL

Poem Commentary
1) Context: (difficult or impossible for Paper 1)
-historical -authorial

2) Structure: Let the poem assist you in your Presentation; i.e. by stanza or by
idea.

-type of poem and effect

-# of lines and stanzas

-rhyme scheme, rhythm and meter and effect

-punctuation (possibly) and effect

-POV: 1st, 2, 3rd person point of view. Differentiate between

narrator/speaker and persona. Discuss the POV's effect
3) State Theme and List the Literary Features employed.

4) Title: What imagery does the title evoke? How does it hint at the poem's meaning?
5) Line by line, stanza by stanza, idea by idea. -Literary Features 1) Diction: tone, style, word order, word choice. Author's tone is portrayed through his/her diction. 2) Symbol/Symbolic/Symbolism 3) Imagery- Sensory language-* 5 senses> Mental picture-* Evokes a response in the Reader/Audience-> Emotional or Memory 3) Metaphor 4) Simile 5) Irony- 3 types (appearance vs. reality) 6) Personification 7) Onomatopoeia 8) Mood/Tone of the poem 9) Figurative and Literal meanings 10) Enjambment 10) Repetition 11) Alliteration 12) Setting, if applicable 13) Conflict and Resolution of Persona, if applicable 14) THEME -Pertinent Quotations incorporated smoothly into your commentary. 6) Conclusion and Personal ResponseA/oice -Thoughtful concluding ideas linking the major literary features to Theme. -Express your interaction with the poem.
-Effects: -How supports the Theme. -What response and how the response is evoked in the reader. Use active, not passive Voice. -Double-check grammar (s/v agreement) and spelling (especially author and title).

SL Assessment Criteria
CriterionA: Knowledge and
Achievement level 0

Achievement level 1

Achievement level 2

Achievement level 3

Achievement level 4

Achievement level 5

understanding of extractorwork(s)
How wel does the candidate know and understandthe content of the extractor

The candidate has not reached level 1

work(s)?
* Howwelldoes the candidate situate

Littleknowledge of the extract or work(s) Littteknowtedge orunderstanding

of the content of the extract or

the extract orwork(s) within the

work(s) Little knowledge of the

Some knowledge of the extract Adequate knowledge of the extract or work(s) orwork(s) Some knowledge butsuperficial Adequate knowledgeand understanding of thecontent of understanding of the content theextract orwork(s) of the extractorwork(s) Adequateknowledge of the Some knowledge of the

context ofthelarger workfrom which

ithas beentakenorthe bodyofworks

appropriate context ofthe

extractorwork(s),where
relevant

appropriate context oftheextract orwork(s), whererelevant

Achievement level 3-4

Good knowledge of the extract orwork(s) Good knowledgeand understanding of the contentof the extractorwork(s) Good knowledgeof the appropriate context oftheextract appropriate context oftheextract orwork(s), whererelevant orwork, where relevant
Achievement level 5-6
Achievement level 7-8

Excellent knowledge of the extract or work(s) Thorough knowledge and understanding of the contentof the extractorwork(s) Precise knowledge of the appropriate contextofthe extract orwork(s), whererelevant
Achievement level 9-10

towhich itbelongs, where relevant?

o

<3

Achievement level 1-2 Achievement level 0 Criterion B:Interpretation and personalresponse The candktete has not reached level 1 Little interpretation ofthe extract HowvaMisthe candidate's interpretation or work(s) of theextract orwork(s)? Little interpretation of the How weDhas the candidate identified thought andfeeling expressed and analysed theeffects ofliterary inthe extractorwork(s) features inthe extractorwork(s), Response consists mainly of such as diction, imagery,tone, narration and/or repetition of structure, styleandtechnique? To what extent does the candidate's
content

Some interpretation of the extract Adequateinterpretation of the

response showcritical thinking and originality? How precise andrelevant arethe

candidate's references to the extract

Littleor no awareness of the

literary features of the extract orwork(s)

orwork(s)?
The candtfate has not reached level 1 Little sense of a focused and

Goodinterpretation of the extract orwork(s) extract or work(s) orwork(s) Adequate interpretation of the A generally valid interpretation Some interpretation of the of the thought and feeling thought andfeeling expressed thought andfeeling expressed expressedinthe extract or intheextract orwork(s) including intheextract orwork(s) work(s), including some degree sometimes valid persona) Some awarenessof the literary of a critical personal response, observations, whereappropriate features ofthe extract orwork(s) where appropriate The responseis supported by Adequateawarenessbutlittle Clear awareness and some analysis of the effectsofthe some references to the extract analysis of the effectsof the literary features of the extract orwork(s) literary featuresof the extract orwork(s) orwork(s) The response is supportedby generally relevant references The response is supportedby relevant references to the to the extractorwork(s) extractorwork(s)
Some sense of a focused and

Excellent interpretation of the extractor work(s) A validinterpretation of the thoughtand feeling expressedin the extractorwork(s), including a consideredcritical response, where appropriate Clearawareness andanalysisof the effects of the literary featuresof the extractorwork(s) The response is wellsupported by accurateand relevant references totheextract orwork(s)

Criterion C: Presentation How structured is the candidate's

developed response
Little evidence of a structure to

developed response
Some evidence of a structure

response? Howeffectiveand convincing is the

A generallyfocused and developed response Adequate structure to the

response

A focused and developed

response

Clearand logical structure to

the response

A clearlyfocused, well-developed and persuasive response Purposeful and effective

structure to the response

the response

candidate's presentation? How appropriately does the candidate integrate supporting referencesto the extractor work(s)?

Little attemptto presentthe

to the response Some attemptto presentthe

response with coherence although itisnotalways focused Supporting references tothe Theresponse is supported by work(s) orextract, where fewreferences to the work(s) or relevant, arenotappropriately extract integrated into thebodyofthe

response with coherence and

focus

The response is generally focused and presentedin a

coherent and effective manner

Supporting references to the work(s) orextract, where

relevant, are sometimes

response

appropriately integrated into the bodyof the response

Achievement level 3

Theresponse isfocused and presented inadear, coherent, effective andconvincing manner Supporting references to the work(s) orextract, where relevant,are appropriately integrated intothe bodyof the
response

The response is focused, coherentand presented in a very effectiveand persuasive

manner

Supporting references to the work(s) orextract arewell integrated intothe body of the
response

Criterion D: Use of language Howaccurate, clearand preciseis

Achievement level 0

Achievement level 1

Achievement level 2

Achievement leveU

Achievement level 5

thelanguage usedbythecandidate? How appropriate is thecandidate's

choice ofregister and styleforthe occasion? (Register refers, inthis
context,to the candidate's sensitivity to elementssuch as vocabulary, tone, sentence structureand idiom

The candidatehas not reached level 1 The languageis rarelyclear or

coherent

The language is onlysometimes

clear and coherent

The speechis notreadily comprehensible

Many lapses ingrammar and

expression

Vocabulary is rarely accurate or appropriate

Some degreeof clarity and coherenceinthe speech Some degreeof accuracy in grammar andexpression Vocabulary is sometimes appropriate for the discussion
of literature

appropriate tothe task.)Literary

termsaretakeninthe widest possible

sense (e.g. novel, play, poem,

The languageis generally clear The language is clear, varied and precise and coherent Clear, varied and precise Clear speech,appropriate to speech,appropriate tothe the occasion occasion Onlya fewsignificant lapsesin No significant lapsesin grammar andexpression grammar and expression Attempts to use a register Suitable choiceof register and activity style Some literary terms used appropriately

The language is clear,varied, precise and concise. Clear, varied, precise and concise speech, appropriate to
the occasion

persona, character, narrator).

Nosignificant lapsesingrammar and expression An effectivechoiceof register and style Preciseuse of widevocabulary andvaried grammatical structures Literary termsusedappropriately

HL Assessment Criteria
CriterionA: Knowledge and understandingof extract or work(s)
Achievement level 0
Achievement level 1
Achievement level 2

Achievement level 3

Achievement level 4

Achievement level 5

Some knowledge of the extract The candkJatehas not reached level 1 Littleknowledge of the extract How well does the candidate know orwork(s) or work(s) and understand the content of the Utflekrcwledgecfunderstanding Some knowtedge butsuperficial extractorwork(s)? understanding of the content of of the content of the extract or How well does the candidate situate the extractorwork(s) work(s) the extract orwork(s) within the Some knowledge of the Little knowledge ofthe context ofthelarger workfrom appropriate contextof the appropriate contextofthe whichithas been taken or the body extractorwork(s), where extractorwork(s), where of works towhich it belongs, where relevant relevant
relevant?

Adequate understandingof the extract or work(s) Adequateknowledge and understanding of the contentof the extractor work(s) Adequateknowledge of the appropriate context oftheextract orwork(s), where relevant

Good understanding of the extract or work(s) Good knowledgeand understandingof the content of the extractorwork(s) Goodknowledge of the

Excellent understanding of the extract or work(s) Thorough knowledgeand

understanding of the contentof

the extractor work(s)

appropriate context oftheextract orwork(s), whererelevant

Precise knowledge ofthe appropriate context of the extract orwork(s),where relevant

Criterion B:Interpretation and personalresponse

Achievement level 0

Achievement level 1-2

Achievement level 3-4

Achievement level 5-6

Achievement level 7-8

Achievement level 9-10

The candidatehas not reachedlevel 1 Littleinterpretationof the How vafxJis the candidate's extract orwork(s) interpretation oftheextract orwork(s)? Little interpretation of(he
How well has the candidate

identified andanalysed the effects of literary features inthe extract or work(s), suchas diction, imagery, tone, structure, styleandtechnique?
To what extent does the

thought and feeling expressed

inthe extractor work(s)

Response consists mainly of narration and/orrepetition of

content

candidate's responseshow critical thinking andoriginality? How precise andrelevant arethe

candidate's references to the

Little awareness of the literary features oftheextract orwork(s)

Some interpretation of the extract or work(s) Some interpretation of the thoughtand feeling expressed in the extractorwork(s) including some elementsof a relevantpersonal response, where appropriate Some awareness of the literary features oftheextract orwork(s) The response is supportedby
some references to the extract

extractorwork(s)?

orwork(s)

Adequate interpretation of the extract or work(s) A generally valid andadequate interpretation ofthethought and feeling expressed intheextract or work(s)including some degreeof a critical personal response,whereappropriate Adequate awareness and some analysis of the effectsof the literary features of the extractorwork(s) The responseis generally supported byrelevant references to the extractorwork(s)
A generally focused and developed response Adequate structure to the
response

Good interpretation of the extract or work(s) A validand generally detailed interpretation of the thought and feeling expressed inthe extractorwork(s) including a consideredcritical response, where appropriate
Good awareness and detailed

Excellentinterpretationof the extract or work(s) A convincing anddetailed interpretation of the thoughtand feeling expressed in the extract orwork(s) including a fully consideredand independent critical response, whereappropriate
Excellent awareness and critical

analysis of the effectsof the literary featuresof the extract orwork(s) The response is supportedby
relevant references to the extract

analysis of the effects of the literary featuresof the extractor work(s) The responseis fully supported
by precisereferences to the extractorwork(s)

orwork(s)
A focused and developed
response

Criterion C: Presentation How structured is the candidate's

The candBate has not reached level 1

Little sense of a focused and

Some sense of a focused and

developed response
Little evidence of a structure to

developed response
Some evidence of a structure

response?
Howeffectiveand convincingis the candidate's presentation?

the response

to the response

How appropriately does the candidate integrate supporting references tothe extract orwork(s)?

Little attempt to present the responsewithcoherence and

focus

The response is supported by fewreferences to the work(s)

or extract

Some attemptto presentthe responsewithcoherence although itisnotalways focused Supporting references tothe work(s)or extract, where relevant,arenot appropriately integrated intothe bodyof the
response

The responseis generally focused and presentedina

coherent and effective manner

A clearlyfocused, well-developed and persuasive response Purposeful andeffectivestructure Clear and logical structureto the response to the response The response is focused, coherent The response is focused and and presented ina veryeffective presented ina dear,coherent, effective andconvincing manner and persuasive manner

Supporting references to the work(s) or extract, where

relevant, are sometimes

appropriately integrated into the bodyof the response

Achievement level 3

Supporting references tothe work(s) or extract, where relevant, are appropriately integrated intothe bodyofthe
response

Supporting references tothe work(s) orextract arewell integrated intothe body of the
response

Achievement level 1 Achievement level 0 Criterion D: Use of language Howaccurate, clearand preciseis The languageis rarely clearor The candidate has not reached level 1 thelanguage usedbythecandidate? coherent How appropriate is the candidate's The speech is notreadily choice of register and style for the comprehensible occasion? (Register refers, inthis Many lapsesingrammar and context,to the candidate's expression sensitivity toelementssuch as the Vocabulary is rarely accurate vocabulary, tone,sentence structure or appropriate and idiom appropriate to the task.) Literary terms aretakeninthewidest possible sense, for example, novel, play, poem, persona, character,

Achievement level 2

Achievement level 4

Achievement level 5

The language is onlysometimes The language is generally clear The language is clear,varied and precise and coherent clear and coherent Clear, varied andprecise speech, Clear speech, appropriate to Some degree of clarity and appropriate totheoccasion the occasion coherence in the speech Only a fewsignificant lapses in Nosignificant lapsesingrammar Some degreeof accuracy in and expression grammar andexpression grammar andexpression Attemptsto use a register Uses a register and style Vocabulary is sometimes appropriate to the oralactivity appropriate to theoralactivity appropriate for the discussion Some literary terms used of literature appropriately

The language is clear,varied, precise and concise Gear,varied, precise andconcise speech, appropriate to the
occasion

Nosignificant lapsesingrammar
and expression

Aneffective choiceof register and style Preciseuse of wide vocabulary andvaried grammatical structures Literary terms usedappropriately

narrator.

Margaret Atwood poems for Al Y2 Part 2- Detailed Study. Assessment: IOC

2011-2012

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) 14)

"Spelling" "Variations on the word Sleep" "Variations on the word Love" "Postcard" "A Sad Child" "A Women's Issue" "Helen of Troy Does Counter Dancing" "Oh" "They Eat Out" "February" "Men At Sea" "The Female Body- pt. 5" "Cell" "Siren Song"

Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood is a widely recognized literary figure, especially known for her themes of feminism. Her novels, including Alias Grace and The Handmaid's Tale are widely known for their feminist subject matter, and one finds the same powerful themes within her poetry. Judy Klemesrud, in her article for The New York Times, once made the wise acknowledgement that "People follow her on the streets and in stores, seeking autographs and wanting to discuss the characters in her novels- most of whom are intelligent, self-absorbed modern women searching for identity. These women also suffer greatly, and as a result, some Canadian critics have dubbed her 'the high priestess of angst'"(March 28, 1982). Indeed, Margaret Atwood has a talent for the conscience feministic perspective, and the tone of much of her work seems to indicate her sense of political responsibility. Her poem "Spelling," for example, is a testament to the power of words and it depicts the victimization of powerlessness of women without language. Atwood describes her daughter on the floor, learning how to spell for the first time, and then leads the reader through a history of persecuted, helpless women. For instance, Atwood depicts "the woman caught in the war/ & in labour, her thighs tied/ together by the enemy/ so she could not give birth"(803). Such disturbing portrayals of women have earned Atwood the reputation as a daring feminist. Yet it is important to recognize that her poetry is not just about feminist themes, it is also an exploration into the depths of human consciousness and loneliness. This consciousness, paired with her curiosities about the power of language, is seen in many of her poetic themes. Atwood focuses on different literary and artistic genres in her poetry, ranging from postcards to photographs to magazine depictions of love, in order to explore human connections. Although much of her work may seem fearlessly feministic, in the sense that it brings explores female condition without reserve or embarrassment, Atwood's poetry probes into a genderless consciousness to explore feelings of human connectedness and painful separations. The first poem that will be examined in this paper is "Variations on the Word Sleep." The narrator of the poem immediately addresses their conscience need to connect with the other person, and they also recognize the hopelessness of this goal: "I would like to watch you sleeping, / which may not happen". The opening to the poem, as we see here, could be considered typical of Atwood's writing in the sense that one person longs to bond with another, and recognizes the difficulty. It is this type of vulnerability that we have come to expect in Margaret Atwood's writings, because as with many feminist writings, we are aware of the power struggle between men and women, and even between women. But this poem refrains from identifying sexes; it only discusses a deeply internal need of one person for another, who is on a journey through he dark maze of their consciousness.
The first stanza evolves from a simple plea from the genderless speaker to watch their lover sleep, to a deeper, spiritual need. Atwood chooses to remain ambiguous in this respect, which helps a wider audience identify with the work. The poem also has merit because within seven short, simplistic lines we glide from a gentle longing to a love complex and intense, with two

minds merging together in a dream: "I would like to watch you, / sleeping. I would like to sleep/ with you, to enter/ your sleep as its smooth dark wave/ slides over my head." The action of the poem continues to evolve as Atwood carries the reader through what appears to be a lover's dream or fantasy. The narrator at first wishes only to watch their lover sleep, then they desire to enter the same sleep with them, then they envision themselves descending through the layers of

consciousness. As the reader follows along with the admiring narrator and his or her companion, they become increasingly aware of the narrator's need for transcendence. Atwood uses words that help guide us along the action, such as "watch," "enter," "over," "descend," "follow," and "become." All of these words are effective in making the reader feel as if they too are stumbling along side of the narrator, desperately trying to enter the depths of their lover.

Moreover, the narrator is so anxious and passionate, that they are willing to follow their lover towards their worst fear in order to protect them "from the grief at the center." This is especially interesting in the aspect of feminism because Atwood's female characters, especially in his novels, are usually exemplary of achievement and empowerment. If one is to assume the narrator

in this poem is female, than Atwood is describing a woman chasing her man in a desperate attemptto become his center, and even to "be the air/ that inhabits you for a moment/ only. I
would like to be that unnoticed/ that necessary." The word "unnoticed" here could be seen in a couple different lights, as could the entire theme of the poem. On one hand, the narrator is reducing him or herself to being virtually invisible, by becoming the air of their lover. Given Atwood's aptitude for dismantling the power structures between males and females in her

novels, this type of clinging and desperation seems out of character with her writing. Yet on the other hand, she has abstained from identifying sexes, and the poetry itself is painfully honest and romantic in its portrayal of sacrifice. The narrator is recognizing that the object of their affection, whether they be male or female, has a consciousness worth exploring, and they are willing to
carry this person way from darkness.

The other reason that this poem should be valued is because of Atwood's use of the elements.

The imagery of the poem moves from water ("smooth dark wave") to earth (forest, cave) to wateragain("become the boat that wouldrow you") to fire ("a flame in two cupped hands") then finally, air ("I would like to be the air that inhabits you"). The poem "Variations of the Word Sleep" is an excellent example of Atwood's talent for revealing feelings of separations and also for showing the romance in giving up ones' own identity for the sake of love. This theme is not typical to what the public would consider ruthlessly feminist, but Atwood's writings redefine the
realms of what women desire and deserve in love.

Thenext poem that this paper will discuss is the poem "Variations on the Word Love." This poem is similar to "Variations on the Word Sleep" in the sense that the idea of love evolves from a simplistic, shallowrelationship to realm of love that explores new meanings of human
connection and consciousness. The first stanza even seems to be a mockery of the idea of love,

because Atwood's words ring of cynicism: "This is a word we use to plug/ holes with. It's the right size for those warm/ blanks in speech, for those red heart/ shaped vacancies on the page that look nothing/ like real hearts. Add lace/ and you can sell/ it." (802). This poem, at least initially, seems to fit Atwood's reputation as a staunch "feminist" better than the latter poem, in the sense of "feminism" as a movement which rejects love and men and all things traditional. Atwood's
first few lines reduce the word "love" to an object of convenience. Her words are highly discouraging, as "love" is merely something sold for commercial value ("add lace on it...") and cutesy magazine advertisements "There are whole/ magazines with not much in them/ but the word love, you can/ rub it all over your body and you/ can cook with it too"(802). Again, here
we see a bit more of the feminist theme we've come to expect from Margaret Atwood. She

expertly mocks the type of women's literature that provides its reader's with mushy romance,

heavy perfumes, and cooking recipes. Yet, as before, it is important to interpret Atwood's intentions correctly.
Assuming "Variations on the Word Sleep" was written in a sincere tone, we know that love, for
Atwood, transcends the boundaries of commercialism and even conventional devotion. Atwood

is not saying that love is an over-rated, half-imagined concept created by Hallmark or Cosmo that should be rejected by intelligent females. She is using her poetry to redefine the boundaries of love. Her approach in this poem is from a post-modernist point of view, because she recognizes that words can be powerful, yet often inept at holding meaning. Her second stanza becomes more personal, showing the gap between what the shrunken word "love" and what it can be, in reality, between soul mates: "Then there's the two/ of us. This word/ is far too short for us, it has only/ four letters, too sparse/ to fill those deep bare/ vacuums between the stars/ that press on us with their deafhess"(802). So again, Atwood has effectively evolved the concept of love. And she has let her feminist colors glimmer in her portrayal of modern women's magazines, while showing that connections between two people are intensive and indefinable. This poem is also intriguing because she manages to come to the same feelings of helplessness towards the end of the poem that we saw glimpses of in "Variations on the Word Sleep."

Atwood described the word love as being "single vowel in this metallic/ silence, a mouth that says/ O again and again in wonder/ and pain, a breath, a finger/ grip on a cliffside"(802). Here, Atwood captures the desperation of love while also finding new angles with which to celebrate it. Her last stanza gives the reader a feeling of transcendence without a single use of the word "love," which strengthens her theme. As in the previous poem, her description of the emotions shared between two people has surpassed conventional interpretations of intimacy. The third

poem, "Postcard," is yet another example of Atwood's talent for redesigning the concept of love.
Just as we have seen before, Atwood is interested in the ways in which both words and literary mediums convey the sense of human relationships. In this poem, she studies the words that might

go on a conventional postcard, and also how reality differs from the usual declarations of love
that come in the mail.

The first line of the poem is representative of what one might expect on the back of a postcard: "I'm thinking of you. What else can I say?" but Atwood immediately dissects the allusion of an ideal vacation with a perfect love waiting across the sea. She describes the surroundings as being dirty and disappointing, and the reader gets the sense that her words may apply to the narrator's relationship as well: "What we have are the usual/ fractured coke bottles and the smell/ of backed-up drains, too sweet, / like a mango on the verge/ of rot, which we have also". One must be careful not to oversimplify Atwood's images here, but it is interesting to interpret this putrid environment as a metaphor for the disintegrating relationship between the writer and the addressee. The "backed-up drains," for instance, and the rotting sweetness are indicative of the poem's dark, disparaging tone. This poem delineates from the feelings of intense love in the other two poems, but it is important to notice that Atwood has avoided, yet again, boxing the two
characters into sexual identities, thus, the reader is free to interpret the relationship in "Postcard" according to their own experience or imagination.
What is also apparent in "Postcards" is that Atwood sidesteps the usual trappings of what we expect love to be. "Variations on the Word Sleep" depicts a psychological or dream-like journey

which intensified the idea of connection and sacrifice, while "Variations of the Word Love' pulls new meaning out of such connections by denying the reduction of language. "Postcard" is certainly less optimistic about love, but again we see Atwood attempting to transcend the ordinariness of romance. Just as magazines are often inept at capturing the essence of our connections, so are corny vacation postcards. Instead of using the back of the postcard for forced simplicity and reduced senses of time, Atwood writes "time comes in waves here, a sickness, one/ day after the other rolling on; /1 move up, its called/ awake, then down into the uneasy / nights but never / forward". Again, Atwood has a perceptive sense of movement in her poetry. As we have seen before, she used words such as "enter," "over," and "follow," in the previous lines, and in "Postcards" Atwood rocks her readers into queasiness with the words "rolling on," "up," "down into," and "never froward." The narrator's vacation has become an absurd foreign nightmare, and the "glossy image" on the front of the postcard serves as a metaphor for the dark
realities of being disconnected from others.

In conclusion, Margaret Atwood's poetry is not what one might expect from a feminist writer. While her novels such as The Handmaid's Tale and Alias Grace explore the feminine perspective, her poetry can be characterized by its genderless conscious and its unconventional portrayal of love. Atwood's poetic voice defies the trappings of feminism in the sense that it embraces romantic images. Atwood shows the reader, through such poems as "Variations on the

Word Sleep" that love transcends ordinary human activity, and chases it even into the depths of our consciousness and deepest fears. This poem captures the beauty of love by avoiding gender

trappings and by carryingthe reader through the boundaries of language. This is also true of her poem "Variations on the Word Love," where Atwood gives us what language is incapable of and reshapes the language of human connection. Of course, Atwood's poetry should not be oversimplified. In the poem "Postcards" we see a revival of the "high priestess of angst" that is predominant in her novels. "Postcards" is undoubtedly bitter: "Love comes/ in waves like the
ocean, a sickness which goes on/ & on, a hollow cave/ in the head, filling and pounding, a kicked ear." But again, Atwood has found a descriptive language to redefine love and overstep gender issues. The poetic voice in this poem makes the pain of absence clear to the reader, and again, we feel the power and pain of human connections. Atwood peels off the layers of consciousnessto reveal a multi-faceted perspective on a usually clichO subject. Love, through Atwood's poetry, transcends our expectations of humanness and gender.
Bibliography

1. Atwood, Margaret. Waterstone's Poetry Lecture. Delivered at Hav On Wye. Wales, June 1995. 2. Brownley, Martine Watson. "The Muse as Fluffball": Margaret Atwood and the Poetry of the Intelligent Woman, p. 34-51. University of Notre Dame Press, 1999. 3. Ellmann, Richard. Modern Poems: A Norton Introduction, p. 797-803. W.W. Norton and Company, 1973. 4. Klemesrud, Judy. High Priestess of Angst. New York Times, March 28, 1982 5. Oates, Joyce C. Margaret Atwood: Poet. New York Times, May 21, 1978 6. Snell, Marilyn. Mother Jones, Jul/
Aug97, Vol22 Issue 4, p24, 4p, 2c
Word Count: 2424

Spelling

My daughter plays on the floor with plastic letters, red, blue & hard yellow, learning how to spell, spelling, how to make spells.
I wonder how many women denied themselves daughters,
closed themselves in rooms,
drew the curtains

10

so they could mainline words.

A child is not a poem, a poem is not a child.
there is no either/or. However.

15

I return to the story of the woman caught in the war & in labour, her thighs tied together by the enemy

so she could not give birth.

Ancestress: the burning witch, her mouth covered by leather to strangle words.
A word after a word

20

after a word is power.

At the point where language falls away from the hot bones, at the point

25

where the rgcls breaks open and darkness

flows out of it like blood, at

the melting point of granite

when the bones know

30

they are hollow & the word splits & doubles & speaks the truth & the body
itself becomes a mouth. 35

This is a metaphor.

How do you learn to spell? Blood, sky & the sun, your own name first, your first naming, your first name, your first word.

40

Variation On The Word Sleep

I would like to watch you sleeping, which may not happen. I would like to watch you, sleeping. I would like to sleep with you, to enter your sleep as its smooth dark wave slides over my head

and walk with you through that lucent wavering forest of bluegreen leaves with its watery sun & three moons towards the cave where you must descend, towards your worst fear

10

I would like to give you the silver

branch, the small white flower, the one

word that will protect you

from the grief at the center of your dream, from the grief
at the center I would like to follow

15

you up the long stairway again & become the boat that would row you back carefully, a flame in two cupped hands to where your body lies beside me, and as you enter it as easily as breathing in
I would like to be the air

20

25

that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed & that necessary.

30

Guiding Questions: i)
2)

Variations on the Word Love

This is a word we use to plug holes with. It's the right size for those warm blanks in speech, for those red heartshaped vacancies on the page that look nothing
like real hearts. Add lace 5

and you can sell it. We insert it also in the one empty space on the printed form
that comes with no instructions. There are whole

magazines with not much in them

but the word love, you can rub it all over your body and you
can cook with it too. How do we know

10

it isn't what goes on at the cool debaucheries of slugs under damp pieces of cardboard? As for the weedseedlings nosing their tough snouts up among the lettuces, they shout it. Love! Love! sing the soldiers, raising

15

their glittering knives in salute.

Then there's the two of us. This word

20

is far too short for us, it has only

four letters, too sparse

to fill those deep bare

vacuums between the stars

25

that press on us with their deafness.

It's not love we don't wish

to fall into, but that fear.

this word is not enough but it will

have to do. It's a single
vowel in this metallic

30

silence, a mouth that says

O again and again in wonder

and pain, a breath, a finger

grip on a cliffside. You can
hold on or let go.

35

Guiding Questions: 1)
2)

Postcards

I'm thinking about you. What else can I say? The palm trees on the reverse are a delusion; so is the pink sand.
What we have are the usual fractured coke bottles and the smell

of backed-up drains, too sweet, like a mango on the verge

of rot, which we have also.

The air clear sweat, mosquitoes & their tracks; birds & elusive.
Time comes in waves here, a sickness, one

10

day after the other rolling on; I move up, it's called awake, then down into the uneasy nights but never
forward. The roosters crow

15

for hours before dawn, and a prodded

child howls & howls

on the pocked road to school. In the hold with the baggage there are two prisoners, their heads shaved by bayonets, & ten crates of queasy chicks. Each spring there's race of cripples, from the store to the church. This is the sort of junk I carry with me; and a clipping about democracy from the local paper.
Outside the window

20

25

they're building the damn hotel, nail by nail, someone's crumbling dream. A universe that includes you
can't be all bad, but
does it? At this distance

30

you're a mirage, a glossy image fixed in the posture of the last time I saw you. Turn you over, there's the place for the address. Wish you were
here. Love comes

35

in waves like the ocean, a sickness which goes on

& on, a hollow cave

40

in the head, filling & pounding, a kicked ear.

A Sad Child

You're sad because you're sad. It's psychic. It's the age. It's chemical. Go see a shrink or take a pill, or hug your sadness like an eyeless doll you need to sleep.
Well, all children are sad

but some get over it. Count your blessings. Better than that, buy a hat. Buy a coat or pet. Take up dancing to forget.

10

Forget what? Your sadness, your shadow, whatever it was that was done to you the day of the lawn party

when you came inside flushed with the sun,

your mouth sulky with sugar, in your new dress with the ribbon
and the ice-cream smear,

15

and said to yourself in the bathroom,

I am not the favorite child. 20

My darling, when it comes right down to it and the light fails and the fog rolls in

and you're trapped in your overturned body under a blanket or burning car,
and the red flame is seeping out of you

25

and igniting the tarmac beside you head

or else the floor, or else the pillow,
none of us is;

or else we all are.

30

Guiding Questions: D
2)

A Women's Issue

The woman in the spiked device

that locks around the waist and between

the legs, with holes in it like a tea strainer

is Exhibit A.

The woman in black with a net window

to see through and a four-inch wooden peg jammed up between her legs so she can't be raped
is Exhibit B.

Exhibit C is the young girl dragged into the bush by the midwives and made to sing while they scrape the flesh from between her legs, then tie her thighs
till she scabs over and is called healed. Now she can be married.

10

15

For each childbirth they'll cut her open, then sew her up. Men like tight women. The ones that die are carefully buried.
The next exhibit lies flat on her back 20

while eighty men a night move through her, then an hour. She looks at the ceiling, listens to the door open and close.

A bell keeps ringing. Nobody knows how she got here.

You'll notice that what they have in common is between the legs. Is this

25

why wars are fought? Enemy territory, no man's land, to be entered furtively, fenced, owned but never surely, scene of these desperate forays
at midnight, captures

30

and sticky murders, doctors' rubber gloves greasy with blood, flesh made inert, the surge
of your own uneasy power.
This is no museum. Who invented the word love?

35

Guiding Questions:
D 2)

Helen of Troy Does Counter Dancing

The world is full of women

who'd tell me I should be ashamed of myself if they had the chance. Quit dancing. Get some self-respect and a day job. Right. And minimum wage, and varicose veins, just standing in one place for eight hours behind a glass counter bundled up to the neck, instead of
naked as a meat sandwich.

10

Selling gloves, or something.

Instead of what I do sell.
You have to have talent

to peddle a thing so nebulous

and without material form.

15

Exploited, they'd say. Yes, any way you cut it, but I've a choice of how, and I'll take the money.
I do give value. Like preachers, I sell vision, life perfume ads, desire or its facsimile. Like jokes or war, it's all in the timing. I sell men back their worst suspicions: that everything's for sale, and piecemeal. They gaze at me and see a chain-saw murder just before it happens, 20

25

when thigh, ass, inkblot, crevice, tit, and nipple

are still connected. 30

Such hatred leaps in them, my beery worshippers! That, or a bleary hopeless love. Seeing the rows of heads and upturned eyes, imploring but ready to snap at my ankles, I understand floods and earthquakes, and the urge to step on ants. I keep the beat,
and dance for them because

35

they can't. The music smells like foxes,

crisp as heated metal searing the nostrils or humid as August, hazy and languorous as a looted city the day after, when all the rape's been done 40

already, and the killing,

and the survivors wander around

45

looking for garbage to eat, and there's only a bleak exhaustion.

Speaking of which, it's the smiling

tires me out the most. 50

This, and the pretence

that I can't hear them.

And I can't, because I'm after all a foreigner to them.

The speech here is all warty gutturals,

obvious as a slab of ham,

55

but I come from the province of gods where meanings are lilting and oblique. I don't let on to everyone, but lean close, and I'll whisper: My mother was raped by a holy swan.
You believe that? You can take me out to dinner.
That's what we tell all the husbands.

60

There sure are a lot of dangerous birds around.

Not that everyone here but you would understand.
The rest of them would like to watch me

65

and feel nothing. Reduce me to components as in a clock factory or abattoir. Crush out the mystery. Wall me up alive in my own body. They'd like to see through me, but nothing is more opaque than absolute transparency. Look - my feet don't hit the marble! Like breath or a balloon, I'm rising,
I hover six inches in the air

70

75

in my blazing swan-egg of light.

You think I'm not a goddess? Try me. This is my torch song. Touch me and you'll burn. 80

Oh

It's Christmas, and the green wreaths, festive and prickly, with their bright red holly berries, dot the graves,

the shocked mouths grief has made and keeps on making:

round silent Ohs,

leafy and still alive that hurt when you touch them.

Look, they are everywhere: Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

What else can be said? 10

Strange how we decorate pain. These ribbons, for instance,

and the small hard teardrops of blood. Who are they for?
Do we think the dead care? 15

It's so cold today even the birds, those flurries of light and fever,
freeze in the air.

The bare trees crack overhead

20

as we place our flowers already stiff with ice. In the spring the flowers will melt,
also the berries,

and something will come to eat them. We will go around

in these circles for a time, winter summer winter,

25

and, after more time, not.

This is a good thought.

30

Guiding Questions: 1) 2)

They Eat Out

In restaurants we argue

over which of us will pay for your funeral

thought the real question is whether or not I will make you immortal.
At the moment only I
can do it and so

I raise the magic fork over the plate of beef fried rice and plunge it into your heart. There is a faint pop, a sizzle

10

and through your own split head you rise up glowing;

the ceiling opens
a voice sings Love Is A Many

Splendoured Thing you hang suspended above the city

15

in blue tights and a red cape, your eyes flashing in unison.

The other diners regard you some with awe, some only with boredom: 20

they cannot decide if you are a new weapon or only a new advertisement.
As for me, I continue eating;

I liked you better the way you were, but you were always ambitious.
After the agony in the guest bedroom, you lying by the
overturned bed

25

your face uplifted, neck propped against the windowsill, my arm under you, cold moon
shining down through the window

30

wine mist rising

around you, an almostvisible halo

35

You say, Do you

love me, do you love me

I answeryou: I stretch your arms out

one to either side,

40

your head slumps forward.

Later I take you home in a taxi, and you
are sick in the bathtub

45

Guiding Questions: 1) 2)

February

Winter. Time to eat fat

and watch hockey. In the pewter mornings, the cat, a black fur sausage with yellow Houdini eyes, jumps up on the bed and tries to get onto my head. It's his way of telling whether or not I'm dead.
If I'm not, he wants to be scratched; if I am He'll think of something. He settles

on my chest, breathing his breath of burped-up meat and musty sofas, purring like a washboard. Some other tomcat, not yet a capon, has been spraying our front door,
declaring war. It's all about sex and territory,
which are what will finish us off

10

in the long run. Some cat owners around here

should snip a few testicles. If we wise
hominids were sensible, we'd do that too,

15

or eat our young, like sharks.

But it's love that does us in. Over and over

again, He shoots, he scores! and famine

crouches in the bedsheets, ambushing the pulsing eiderdown, and the windchill factor hits

20

thirty below, and pollution pours

out of our chimneys to keep us warm.

February, month of despair,

with a skewered heart in the centre.

25

I think dire thoughts, and lust for French fries with a splash of vinegar. Cat, enough of your greedy whining and your small pink bumhole. Off my face! You're the life principle,
more or less, so get going on a little optimism around here. Get rid of death. Celebrate increase. Make it be spring. Guiding Questions: 1)
2)

30

Men at Sea

You can come to the end of talking, about women,

talking. In restaurants, cafes, kitchens, less fre quently in bars or pubs, about relatives, relations, relationships, illnesses, jobs, children, men; about
nuance, hunch, intimation, intuition, shadow; about themselves and each other; about what he said to her and she said to her and she said back; about what 5

they feel. Something ore definite, more outward then, some action, to drain the inner swamp, sweep the inner fluff out from under the inner bed, harden the edges. Men at sea, for instance. Not on a submarine, too claustrophobic and smelly, but something more bracing, a tang of salt, cold water, all over you cal loused body, cuts and bruises, hurricanes, bravery and above all no women. Women are replaced by water, by wind, by the ocean, shifting and treacher ous; a man has to know what to do, to navigate, to sail, to bail, so reach for the How-To book, and out here it's what he said to him, or didn't say, a narrowing of the eyes, sizing the bastard up before the pounce, the knife to the gut, and here comes a wave, hang on to the shrouds, all teeth grit, all muscles bulge together. Or sneaking along the gangway, the passageway, the right of way, the Milky Way, in the dark, your eyes shining like digital wrist-watches, and the bushes, barrels, scuppers, ditches, filthy with enemies, and you on the prowl for adrenalin and loot. Corpses of your own making deliquesce behind you as you reach the cave, abandoned city, safe, sliding panel, hole in the ground, and rich beyond your
wildest dreams!

10

15

20

25

30

What now? Spend it on some woman, in a restau rant. And there I am, back again at the eternal table, which exists so she can put her elbows on it, over a glass of wine, while he says. What does he say? He says the story of how he got here, to her. She says: But what did you feel? And his eyes roll wildly, quick as a wink he tries to think of something else, a cactus, a porpoise, never give yourself away, while the seductive waves swell the carpet beneath the feet and the wind freshens among the tablecloths. They're all around her, she can see it now, one per woman per table. Men, at sea.

35

40

"The Female Body" pt. 5

The Female Body has many uses. It's been used as a door-knocker, a bottle-opener, as a clock with a tick ing belly, as something to hold up lampshades, as a nutcracker, just squeeze the brass legs together and out comes your nut. It bears torches, lifts victorious wreaths, grows copper wings and raises aloft a ring of neon stars; whole buildings rest on its marble
heads.

It sells cars, beer, shaving lotion, cigarettes, hard liquor; it sells diet plans and diamonds, and desire in tiny crystal bottles. Is this the face that launched a thousand products? You bet it is, but don't get any funny big ideas, honey, that smile is a dime a
dozen.

10

It does not merely sell, it is sold. Money flows into this country, flies in, practically crawls in, suitful after suitful, lured by all those hair less pre-teen legs. Listen, you want to reduce the national debt, don't you? Aren't you patriotic? That's the spirit. That's my girl.
She's a natural resource, a renewable one luckily, because those things wear out so quickly. They don't make 'em like they used to. Shoddy goods.

15

20

Guiding Questions: 1) 2)

Cell

Now look objectively. You have to

admit the cancer cell is beautiful.

If it were a flower, you'd say, How pretty, with its mauve centre and pink petals

or if a cover for a pulpy thirties sci-fi magazine, How striking;

as an alien, a success,

all purple eye and jelly tentacles and spines, or are they gills, creeping around on granular Martian dirt red as the inside of the body,
while its tender walls

10

expand and burst, its spores scatter elsewhere, take root, like money,

drifting like a fiction or

miasma in and out of people's brains, digging themselves industriously in. The lab technician

15

says, It has forgotten how to die. But why remember? All it wants is more amnesia. More life, and more abundantly. To take more. To eat more. To replicate itself. To keep on doing those things forever. Such desires
are not unknown. Look in the mirror.

20

Guiding Questions: 1)
2)

Siren Song

This is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:

the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons even though they see the beached skulls
the song nobody knows because anyone who has heard it is dead, and the others can't remember.

Shall I tell you the secret

and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?

10

I don't enjoy it here squatting on this island

looking picturesque and mythical

with these two feathery maniacs, I don't enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.

15

I will tell the secret to you,

to you, only to you.

Come closer. This song

20

is a cry for help: Help me! Only you, only you can, you are unique
at last. Alas 25

it is a boring song but it works every time. Guiding Questions:

D 2)