Summary
Highlights
In terms of the extended metaphor, when the poem states the poems are "gone," it means they have all been eaten or read by the speaker.
The librarian symbolizes people who witness others' passion and enjoyment but cannot understand or experience it themselves, despite being surrounded by what they should love. This contrasts with the stereotype of a librarian as a bookworm.
From the librarian's perspective, she is shocked to see the speaker eating poetry. When the speaker starts behaving strangely, she stamps her feet and weeps, then screams when he licks her hand like a dog. She's frightened and doesn't understand his behavior.
The poet conveys the idea of the speaker's happiness in both the first and last stanzas, using phrases like "no happiness like mine" and "romp with joy."
Eating poetry makes the speaker extremely happy, transforms him into a new man, and affects his behavior, causing him to act like a dog, snarling and barking.
The initial light-hearted and joyful mood shifts to chaotic and horrific as the speaker describes scary dogs coming up the basement stairs, changing the atmosphere of the poem.
The overall tone of the poem is joyful, exuberant, and liberating.
The poem is labeled as surreal due to its strange and dream-like imagery, such as the speaker literally eating poetry and the nightmarish descriptions of dogs with rolling eyeballs, making it seem like a dream or nightmare.
The title "Eating Poetry" uses a metaphor. The speaker compares intensive reading of poetry to eating it, without using "like" or "as".
The speaker is caught eating poetry (metaphorically reading it) in the library by the librarian. Supporting quotes include "The librarian does not believe what she sees" and "I have been eating poetry."