[you fit into me] Analysis - Literary devices and Poetic devices

[you fit into me]

By Margaret Atwood

you fit into me
like a hook into an eye

a fish hook
an open eye

Summary of [you fit into me]

Popularity of “[you fit into me]”: Written by Margaret Atwood, a Canadian award-winning writer and poet, this poem first appeared in 1971. Atwood included it in her collection, Power Politics. Composed in the style of e e cummings without any conventions of punctuation, this beautiful and just four-lined poem sheds light on her views about the entrapment of love and femininity’s feature of all-inclusion despite pains.
“[you fit into me]” As a Representative of Entrapment of Love: Within just four short and precise verses, the poet has presented the hooking power of love. Although the hooking of fish demonstrates that coercion is the permanent feature of this entrapment, it also includes love, romance, and the pangs and anguish associated with conjugal life or love relationships. The very first line points to the feminine feature of taking the patriarchy or masculinity into its fold but this taking into fold involves the painful realization that it causes at the soft spots. The relief comes from nowhere as this relationship becomes a hook that pierces through the eye that is left open. The relief could injure the person. Therefore, this hooking continues with the same ups and downs that such life witnesses.
Major Themes in “[you fit into me]”: Painful conjugal relationships, pangs of love, and entrapment of love are major themes of this poem. It is the fundamental feature of such concise and precise poems that they have several layers of meanings and that such poems are subject to a multiplicity of interpretations. First of all such entrapments happen in the conjugal relationship built on love and reach a stage where accommodation of the views and opinions of the other partner becomes a focal point. However, this also shows that when love starts between two persons, there comes a moment when both undergo its pangs and anguish and still continue loving each other. Love, then, becomes a hook as if it has gone through the eye from which it is very difficult to get rid of. This is the love entrapment that continues with such relations and more so in the case of the transformation of this love relationship into a conjugal relationship.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in [you fit into me]

Margaret Atwood uses various literary devices to enhance the intended impact of his poem. Some of the major literary devices she uses here are as follows.

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i/ in “you fit into me” and the sound of /o/ in “like a hook into an eye.”
Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /n / in “like a hook into an eye” and the sound of /t/ in “you fit into me.”
Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Margaret Atwood used imagery in this poem, such as “you fit into me”, “like a hoot into an eye” and “an open eye.”
Simile: It is a direct comparison of things to show the meanings of the thing being compared. The poet used a simile in the very first verses, such as “you fit into me/ like a hook into me.” One person is saying that the other fits into him like the hook that fits into an open eye.
Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols, such as a hook, eye, and fish, to show the entrapment of love in a relationship.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in [you fit into me]

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows good use of formal, precise, and concise diction.
Free Verse: It means to write verses or poetry without any rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. This poem is a free verse poem.
Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are two stanzas, each comprising two verses.
Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows a painful and piercing tone.

Quotes to be Used

The following lines are useful to quote when talking about the entrapment of relationships and the suitability of continuing it.