The poem
You begin this way: this is your hand, this is your eye, this is a fish, blue and flat on the paper, almost the shape of an eye This is your mouth, this is an O or a moon, whichever you like. This is yellow.
Outside the window is the rain, green because it is summer, and beyond that the trees and then the world, which is round and has only the colors of these nine crayons.
This is the world, which is fuller and more difficult to learn than I have said. You are right to smudge it that way with the red and then the orange: the world burns.
Once you have learned these words you will learn that there are more words than you can ever learn. The word hand floats above your hand like a small cloud over a lake. The word hand anchors your hand to this table your hand is a warm stone I hold between two words.
This is your hand, these are my hands, this is the world, which is round but not flat and has more colors than we can see. It begins, it has an end, this is what you will come back to, this is your hand.
I can't believe how much this poem blows....I had such hopes for Margaret Atwood and alas, she has failed miserably by writing this piece of crap.....BAM!
Mitch the Man
i love this poem. it's beautiful and simple. i think all too often poets use larger words or more complicated syntax just to appear deep or wise. One does not need that to write good poetry. Atwoods words say what she thinks, and that is enough. i love it.
I do not understand how "Mitch the man" can say this poem "blows". I agree with Cat... somewhat. The diction is simple, but the meaning is not. In a way, by seeing only the "simplicity" of the poem, one is missing out on what Atwood is trying to portray. She is speaking of simple colors and only nine crayons; the physical aspects of a fish; the "this is your hand" and "this is your eye" anchors children place on…
Read the whole commentI do not understand how "Mitch the man" can say this poem "blows".
I agree with Cat... somewhat.
The diction is simple, but the meaning is not. In a way, by seeing only the "simplicity" of the poem, one is missing out on what Atwood is trying to portray. She is speaking of simple colors and only nine crayons; the physical aspects of a fish; the "this is your hand" and "this is your eye" anchors children place on objects they learn.
In Stanza III, Atwood writes, "This is the world, which is fuller and more difficult to learn than I have said." Atwood, through this poem, is - in short - telling people that throughout life they will need to get past what you've been taught and move on to discover new parts of the world on your own, despite your journey never having an end.
I don't know how a poem like that could "blow". You're obviously only seeing the parts of the poem children would see: you need to look deeper and understand before you judge.
Undertaking a degree when they changed the subject to poetry, I was completley terrified until I read this poem. I really enjoyed reading it and felt it was just so beautiful and real to what every mother must feel watching their children.
Lovely
You Begin is a deep beautiful poem. Sicko says so himself. Mitch the Man you suck BALLS! Can you write nething better...Mitch The Man?