"Pig Song"
By Margaret Atwood
This is what you changed me to:
a greypink vegetable with slug
eyes, buttock
incarnate, spreading like a slow turnip,
a skin you stuff so you may feed
in your turn, a stinking wart
of flesh, a large tuber
of blood which munches
and bloats. Very well then. Meanwhile
I have the sky, which is only half
caged, I have my weed corners,
I keep myself busy, singing
my song of roots and noses,
my song of dung. Madame,
this song offends you, these grunts
which you find oppressively sexual,
mistaking simple greed for lust.
I am yours. If you feed me garbage,
I will sing a song of garbage.
This is a hymn.
As we said in class today, the poet and the speaker of the poem are two different entities. We have also seen how in persona poetry, poets puts on masks (or personae, in Latin) and see the world with different eyes. Poets usually adopt voices that are not their own in order to feel free to express feeling and thoughts they wouldn't otherwise have been able to express.
- Building on the idea of masks/personae, retain the structure of Atwood's poem ('This is what you changed me to:....') and pretend you are an animal/bird/reptile/mythical creature, etc. talking! You need to write at least 5 lines - inspiration is always welcome!
- Remember that you should not reveal the identity of the animal speaking. Give clues to the reader about what this animal/creature is and let him/her guess.
- Upload the poem on elearning.auth.gr (go to Assignments and upload a Word document)
- Deadline: Wednesday 17 October 2018, 9.00 pm
Consider the following:
- How has the new mask/perspective helped you see and express your ideas?
- What is the effect of the mask device on the reception of the poem?
- Is there a statement made by the persona of the poem?
more on Songs of the Transformed by Margaret Atwood here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=123&issue=5&page=5
No comments:
Post a Comment