EAT MORE BY JOE CORRIE, Selected Poems by Tanzania Institute of Education
He is a Scottish poet and dramatist.
EAT MORE BY JOE CORRIE
‘Eat more fruit!’ the slogans say ‘More fish, more beef, more bread!’ But I’m on Unemployment pay
My third year now, and wed
And so I wonder, when I’ll see The slogan when I pass,
The only one that would suit me ‘Eat more Bloody Grass!’
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
Qn 1. What is the poem all about?
Answ: The poem is all about the feelings of a person towards the commercial slogan which keeps insisting people on the importance of having a balanced diet.
Qn 2. What is the general attitude of the persona towards the slogan?
Answ: The general attitude of the persona towards the slogan is angry and mocking due to the reason that, there are some people found in this society who cannot afford to have a balanced diet because of unemployment.
Qn 3. Explain your view towards the slogan.
Answ: The slogan is good and very important for our healthy as it insists on the importance of having balance diet but the only problem with it is that, it does not consider the social stratification (classes) of the members of the society concerned.
Qn 4. Who is talking in the poem?
Answ: The person talking in this poem is a member of the society who is both poor and unemployed; hence he cannot afford to have a balanced diet.
Qn 5. Who is the addressee (audience) of the poem?
Answ: The addressees here are the traders, the ones who convince people to eat the balanced diet.
Qn 6. What is the setting of the poem?
Answ: The setting of the poem can be any third world country particularly those found in African continent which is highly characterized with poverty, unemployment and classes, therefore the majority of people are not able to meet the balance diet.
Qn 7. What is the tone of the poem?
Answ: The tone of the poem is both angry and satirical; this is due to the reason that the persona is unable to get balance diet because of unemployment.
Qn 8. What kind of a poem is this?
Answ: This is a lyric poem; this is due to the fact that it expresses serious personal feelings about various social realities such as unemployment, poverty and classes found in the society.
Qn 9. Comment on the figures of speech and musical devices used in this poem.
Answ: (a) Personification. – “Eat more fruit” the slogans say.
Repetition. “More fish, more beef, more bread”
Satire. “Eat more bloody grass”
Rhyme. The word say rhymes with pay so do bread and wed.
The word pass rhymes with grass.
Qn 10. What are the possible themes of the poem?
Answ: The possible themes of the poem include unemployment, poverty, protest and classes.
{i} Un-employment.
Un-employment refers to the state of not having a job. The persona of this poem is un- employed person that is why he cannot afford to have a balanced diet. This is evidenced in this poem when the persona says:
“….But I’m on Unemployment pay My third year now, and wed.”
{ii} Poverty.
The term poverty can be simply defined as the state of being poor. The persona in this poem is shown to be a poor person who cannot afford to have a balanced diet such as fruits, fish and bread because of un-employment.
{iii} Protest.
This is also one of the themes of this poem. Protest is a sign of dissatisfaction, being poor and un-employed; the persona is dissatisfied with the slogan which tells him to eat a balanced diet while he has no job to enable him to eat such a food. The persona protests by saying:
“ ….The only one that would suit me Eat more Bloody Grass!”
{iv} Classes.
This also is another theme found in the poem. In this poem there are two classes which are the class of rich people (employed) who can afford to eat a balanced diet and the other class is the class of poor people (un-employed) like persona who cannot manage to eat a balanced diet. The class of poor people only manages to eat “bloody grass” due to their un-employment.