Relative Romantic Associations

“you fit into me” (1971) – Margaret Atwood
“you fit into me
like a hook into an eye

a fish hook
an open eye”

As Ms. Smith and I were discussing both Romantic and romantic activities to do for Monday's Valentine's Day English class, we briefly talked on how the utilization of foreign or at least unexpected objects as metaphors for emotion and thought can indeed translate into both Romantic and romantic poetry. Atwood's poem perfectly exemplifies this idea. The concept of love is obviously nothing new, so interpreting it as something more profound than age-old adages of roses and classical nymphs transforms the definition of love and poetry in general. Not that cupid wasn't a creative innovation in his day, or the idea of relating natural beauty to emotional beauty, but allowing poetry to evolve is part of its perpetual cycle and everlasting renewal. Here the audience sees a hook and eye. A common, if not somewhat outdated object; completely utilitarian. Some associations to compliment a hook and an eye would perhaps be of another more simple era, and of course a doorway. Atwood relies on these common associations to make the poem successful in relaying her emotions to her intended audience, whomever that may be. She speaks of a love that perfectly fits, one person with another. But the irony comes with the realization that the hook and eye are not prevalent in her contemporary world. And so, the role of the primitive lock comes into play, almost as if barring the complications of a modern culture from her more simple and pure experience with love. The second stanza generates another association with the concept of a hook. With the specification of a “fish hook” other connections come to mind. Obviously fishing, but also the role that a fish hook partakes in the fishing process, also helps to create deeper meaning. Instantaneously, I think of a tantalizing lure that cruelly captures the ignorant aquatic creature. Combining that relation to romantic relationships, the reader contemplates a type of sorrowful seduction where the speaker becomes a casualty of love. However, the last line clarifies this ongoing and shifting metaphor: “an open eye.” This expresses a comprehension and omniscience about a supposed bait, and willingness of being caught. Ultimately both these correlations whether intended by Margaret Atwood or not, have helped to compose a nontraditional and highly thoughtful image of love.