a fish hook, an open eye.

"You fit into me, 

like a hook into an eye.

a fish hook,

an open eye." 

- Margaret Atwood

Your first thought after reading this poem may be "how gruesome?" or "what in the world?"

I love this poem. Not because it's painful sounding, but because it's truth. I also love analyzing poems.

The first line, "you fit into me", suggests love, intimacy, infatuation, warmth - whatever synonyms you may think of associating with the word love. There is this feeling of falling in love that everyone dreams of experiencing; the feeling of someone who matches your soul perfectly like a puzzle piece. Whether the reader has been in love or not, they can relate to it. Love is universal, and this first line leads you to believe that this poem is about love.

Now, that's not a false lead. It is about love. But not the type of love that we all dream of. The second line continues with Atwood's tease. "Like a hook into an eye". Traditionally, a hook and eye is that little tedious clip thing at the top of dresses that makes us girls contort our arms awkwardly just to reach. It's also the metal binding on woman's bras to hold that up and together. So here, Atwood wants you to think that this line means a clothing hook and eye, which in this case would represent amity, harmony, and working together - both holding the same amount weight on either side - to stay together.

However, that's not that case. Following the the beginning two lines is an indent - for rhetorical effect - with the lines "a fish hook, an open eye." This completely changes the reality of what you thought was going on. No longer is it a peaceful, loving hook and eye. It's a piercing and sharp fish hook stabbed into a human eye. What an agonizing thought. Atwood clearly demonizes the idea of love. She ridicules the sensation of fitting into someone, the feeling of belonging even though it seems so good, so raw, so wonderfully tasteful. Atwood illustrates that once in, this "love hook" sears your body and leaves you in pain and in scars. Atwood's negative approach to intimacy concedes the contrary to love.

Now read over the poem again and see if you can understand what I'm saying.

- mittens.