The poem
You fit into me like a hook into an eye A fish hook An open eye
You Fit Into Me
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- Sonya159 words
This poem is clearly about at unwanted sexual experience. It is very important to read it one stanza at a time. The first stanza is a similie for lovemaking. However, the second stanza is very shocking and violent. It is evident that the sexual encounter was a bad experience.
The first stanza at first is to be recognized as a sewing term. the hook fits into the eye. the two people fit together...yet the second stanza contrasts this by pointing out the intended meanings of the hook and the eye. first the relationship is perceived as perfect but then it is understood that one person has ill feelings, perhaps hatred for the other person.
This is a super-clever poem-I wish I would have written it myself. When you read the first stanza you feel all sweet inside and you think its gonna be all mushy, then you read the second stanza and you laugh out loud as your realize, "Yep. I've been there."
It's so stupid: this crazy woman just says she hates to make love with someone. Is this a poem? Common, she must be kidding! Actually, she just hates everything!
I have a tape of Margaret Atwood reading some of her poetry. This poem is included in another poem on the tape, not by itself. I think it is hard to understand what she is saying (which I believe is also about the feminist movement) without reading the other poem.
I don't see why this poem must be read a an analogy for a bad/painful sexual experience. A bad experience, yes, and it seems to have been a sexual relationship, but it also seems like she's using a cloying expression of romantic love ("you fit into me", see "City of Angels" for abuse of phrase) and showing how something fragile/delicate can be *metaphorically* gouged by that "fitting in." I think you should think…
Read the whole commentI don't see why this poem must be read a an analogy for a bad/painful sexual experience. A bad experience, yes, and it seems to have been a sexual relationship, but it also seems like she's using a cloying expression of romantic love ("you fit into me", see "City of Angels" for abuse of phrase) and showing how something fragile/delicate can be *metaphorically* gouged by that "fitting in." I think you should think about what having a hook in your eye does to you physically (loss of vision in addition to pain) to understand part of how this poem might be read metaphorically as a surprise wound that made it hard to see things clearly. Why add the detail--a "fish" hook and an "open" eye if these terms are not also meant to be read as part of the meaning? Remember that Oedipus solved the Sphinx's riddle by thinking metaphorically instead of literally: that is a key to literature.
Gunnar Bengtsson has copyrighted this Internet page, yet he is using a poem by a living poet that is almost certainly under copyright without indicating either that or whether he has permission to re-publish it here. What are the rights and laws concerning copying poems on the Internet and in college readers?
I think this poem is more emotional than sexual. The fish hook is symbolic because a fish hook often has a nice worm on the end luring the unsuspecting fish in. The loss of the eye represents how her view of this person who hurt her has now changed. It is a relationship gone bad.
Hmmm. Am I the only one that finds this poem humorous? It certainly made me laugh out loud,
something not that easy to do. The first two lines of the poem sounds like a the start of a sweet
song of adoration, only to find the reality of the hook and eye the poet has in mind. The gruesome
thought of a fish hook stuck in your eye makes one squirm with such revulsion -- the contrast is
so unexpected, so extreme, it's got to be a joke?
To Jerry from the United States:
Yesterday after I first read this poem, I called up one of my friends to read it to him, because I thought it was hilarious as well. However, he did not. Oh well.
Almost everyone who has posted a comment, has said that it must be a joke, or that it made them laugh, why can't they see that it's about a deep emotional, mental and physical relationship that's been torn apart. Someone was let into her life and she thought they were perfect, but with a break-up that wasn't mututal occuring, "An open eye" could also mean "An open 'I'". She was hurt, and it's not humurous
Margaret Atwood is a feminist poet, and many of her themes are about the brutalization, abuse, and oppresion of women. To think that she would write this poem as a "joke" of some sort is ridiculous. The first part is a sewing metaphor as relating to a sexual and emotional relationship; it seems perfect on the surface, a symbol of love and connection. Then she reveals the truth, which is that of an open, innocent eye…
Read the whole commentMargaret Atwood is a feminist poet, and many of her themes are about the brutalization, abuse, and oppresion of women. To think that she would write this poem as a "joke" of some sort is ridiculous. The first part is a sewing metaphor as relating to a sexual and emotional relationship; it seems perfect on the surface, a symbol of love and connection. Then she reveals the truth, which is that of an open, innocent eye (her) brutalized by something inhumane and incredibly painful. Behind a seemingly perfect ideal, there is the repulsive reality that her imagery describes. Although the poem is somewhat sarcastic, and directed as a biting remark to whoever inflicted such damage, it is not a joke. It is a clear commentary on the ignored or unseen abuse and oppression of women.
bueno como todos los q han comentado acerca de este poema, yo tambien lo hare. primero q nada quiero expresar mis sentimientos hacerca de la literatura en general "a quien le importa lo que estos bas*ardos teian en mente com'on its ridiculous" pero ya que en la universidad esta clase es un requisito pues bueno no queda de otra mas q de resignarse jajaja el poema me gusta porque es corto pero como no soy buena para interpretar absurdos sentimientos al principio no coji la onda, hasta que vine a esta pajina....o well good luck to those ppl than r taking literature n boo to those who love it cuz i indeed hate it!
Its not really a poem is it. Just generic feminist anti-men anti-hetrosexual sex crap.
It might be humorous- it depend's on wheter you identify de speaker as the eye or the hook. However, the theory supporting that the eye makes sense and pairs with its allophone "i", would transform this into a very depreesing one. The turn it uses, starting as a love poem and suddenly develkoping itself as... this, is so amazing.
We talked about this peom today in class. The exact meaning is You fit into me = you belong to me / we go well together Like a hook into an eye = this is referring to the hook of a piece of clothing which goed trough an iron eye, you knowe these hooks that are somethimes used in womens clothing, meaning they fir perfectly together and are made for each other. A fishook = well it just means a fishhook An open eye =…
Read the whole commentWe talked about this peom today in class.
The exact meaning is
You fit into me = you belong to me / we go well together
Like a hook into an eye = this is referring to the hook of a piece of clothing which goed trough an iron eye, you knowe these hooks that are somethimes used in womens clothing, meaning they fir perfectly together and are made for each other.
A fishook = well it just means a fishhook
An open eye = this time it really is referring to a human eye, and this doesn't really give a nice effect to the poem the hook in the eye, and this is done on purpose to abruptly change the tone. The whole meaning of the poem is that not everything is as you expect it to be and love can really hurt even though it feels perfect, and also that love isn't always what you expect.
I have found that when someone enters your life very quickly it can be surprising, painful and hard to adjust. When this person is removed from your life you have a one sided and scared view of love and the world. I must convay pitty for thous of whome have felt such moments.
Minimal usage and maximal effect
It is undoubtedly a wonderful poem.The reverse effect reminds me the line 'we look before and after and pine for what is not'.
The syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships discussed in the poem can be traced only through a careful reading from top to bottom, and from left to right.
The beauty of the poem lies in its opposites.
a whole story
just read the poem and thought a bit about it.
Impressive, indeed. Brilliant, I'd say.
Don't you see it tells the actual story of a relationship that has just ended ?
When it began, everything fit ...
And it continued as long as everyting fit ...
At some point, there was some some pain. And it grew up and became ... like a hook in the eye.
The fit proved to be unreal.
And there we go .. each on a different path.
It's a complete history here. In just 4 rows.
this poem toutches something inside me.the dictions of the words surprizes me .how she uses a hook into eyes reflects our realities when we fail in love .we think that this love is perfect and blissful but that of course bcause the fact that love is blind and like death in life .
hook into an eye
This is a perfect poem ,what needs explaining?? Nothing
Direct ,to the point ,perfect.
ECL 111
This poem is trying to give us an image of how love can be at the beggining and at the end.At first, you become so attached to each other to an extant that you give your whole self and love to that person.Then when things change and you no longer feeling comfartable in that relationship and u feel like breaking up, it becomes difficult and painful for u as u were already used 2 that person.So it is trying to show that peaple can fall inlve even though they r not happy in that relationship.
Fem.
This poem is beautiful and captivating. Margaret Atwood has a way for irony... displayed clearly in this short poem. When reading this, you have to keep in mind that Atwood was well known not only for her mythological themes but for her feminist views. With this poem I think it is obvious that the fish hook (Male) and the open eye (Female) have nothing to do with equally contributing pain through separation. If you…
Read the whole commentThis poem is beautiful and captivating.
Margaret Atwood has a way for irony... displayed clearly in this short poem.
When reading this, you have to keep in mind that Atwood was well known not only for her mythological themes but for her feminist views.
With this poem I think it is obvious that the fish hook (Male) and the open eye (Female) have nothing to do with equally contributing pain through separation. If you were to imagine a fish hook: A fish hook has a point and a barb at the end of the hook. The point to make entering easy and painless and a barb to catch onto flesh and if pulled, rips. The outcome of a fishhook in an eye being separated would be devastation for the eye. The fish hook would have no problems.
I find it ironic that Margaret Atwood divorced a couple years after this poem was written. Oh the irony.