The poem
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. 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 it isn't what goes on at the cool debaucheries of slugs under damp pieces of cardboard? As for the weed- seedlings nosing their tough snouts up among the lettuces, they shout it. Love! Love! sing the soldiers, raising their glittering knives in salute.
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 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 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.
I was wondering if someone could help me here. What is the setting, structure, gendre, form and theme of this poem. and any literary devices would also help.
Thanks
In this poem the setting.. isn't actually present. When you read it through it's not describing a specific place, it's describing the places the word 'love' is found. Actually looking through the poem reveals the theme, structure and other things you're looking for. Just remember the setting and you're set to go.
In this poem, Atwood talks about the different ways people use love and its meanings. The first line reads, “this is a word we use to plug/holes with”. There is immense truth behind this. Many individuals use the word ‘love’ as if it were nothing at all. Most people use this word multiple times a day, but each time the word means something different. In this poem, Atwood tries to define the different ways it is used…
Read the whole commentIn this poem, Atwood talks about the different ways people use love and its meanings. The first line reads, “this is a word we use to plug/holes with”. There is immense truth behind this. Many individuals use the word ‘love’ as if it were nothing at all. Most people use this word multiple times a day, but each time the word means something different. In this poem, Atwood tries to define the different ways it is used in today’s language.
In the first stanza the author talks about what ‘love’ is like as a noun. The tone taken on by this stanza becomes almost bitter. Atwood focuses on how the word ‘love’ has become more casually used and thrown around making the word itself lose meaning. Also, she comments on how ‘love’ is being marketed. One of the most common symbols which represents love is a heart. Ironically, this resembles nothing of a real heart. This ‘heart’ is often decorated and sold for money. Also, this exhibits irony because people buy a lacey, decorated heart to show affection; however, it would be more affectionate and thoughtful to make or show love in your own way, and not the way that it is being marketed. Atwood then goes on to say that “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.” We write, read, cook, and eat all with love. After showing us how broadly this term is used, Atwood questions us by asking how do we know slugs don’t indulge in love as well. Atwood ends stanza one by saying even the soldiers shout “Love! Love!” which could also take on the meaning that love brings peace.
In stanza two, Atwood goes on to talk about love as a verb. Atwood’s tone changes completely from the first stanza. She begins with “then there’s the two/of us. This word/is far too short for us”. The reader then realizes Atwood’s bitterness was not focused toward ‘love’ itself, but the far too common image of it. Atwood goes on to ask how a four letter word could describe feelings so deep and so emotional. Love is more than just a word, it cannot be spoken, but felt deeply among its caretakers. The author then addresses that we do not wish to fall into love, but we wish for the fear of love. The fear of losing something so delicate. This contrasts with the first stanza because the feeling of love is rare, however, as described in the previous stanza, love is everywhere. Atwood continues by stating that love is only one syllable and that it “is not enough but it/will have to do.” Atwood ends the poem by saying “O again and again in wonder/ and pain, a breath, a finger/grip on a cliffside. You can/hold on or let go.” By comparing love to a life or death situation, this gives the reader a chance to visualize how powerful love really is and what a strong hold it has over anyone who falls into it.
The structure of this poem is very effective for the meaning. The way Atwood arranged the stanzas worked well because she address the more open side of the word ‘love’ first, followed by the more heartfelt meaning of it. By leaving this poem in free verse, the author reinforces the idea that love does not follow any particular structure. Also, the line breaks are irregular. Irregularity is another characteristic of love. Atwood makes a bold statement in this poem by saying how powerful love is and how no one really knows the meaning of it because it takes on a new meaning for everyone.