Reading this poem at first I thought it was about death. As i read over a s econd time I realize that the speaker created a methaphor for sibling rivalries. The speaker is not actually eating the body parts of her siblings but the peaker is judging them base on their personility and actions. The “tongue” may represent the sister needs to gossip and having a bad language. The “brother’s heart” is metaphor for being cold hearted and just selfish. She describes her brother and sisters actions as way of how she would do ot them if they were meat. This poem would be very attractive to students of culnirary art degrees becuase it is just so facinating. SO overall it is not literally cooking but it is a way of punishing her siblings if she was too. The speaker may be someone who is well known around thekitchen becuase she was able to be so graphic and knew the terms of seasoning and so on. In addition reading the line that her sister’s tongue might grow back was very interesting because i couldn’t figure out what it means. Breaking it down i thought that it may be that even she was to talk to her about her talkative manners she would still continue on talking or gossiping because that is something she just can’t or won’t stop.
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Introduction to Poetry:
Envisioning Poetry
ENG 2003, section 1248
Prof Jody R. Rosen
Spring 2012
W 6:00-8:30
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I guess in the spirit of all of today animal rights activists the first thing I imagined was that maybe the poem is written through the viewpoint of a cow or some kind of animal. I recall reading that many meat producers feed their livestock the cheapest stuff possible, which would include feed with meat supplements. So in a sense the animals are exposed to canniballism and this also actually made some animals sick and spread mad cow disease.
However, after reading this post I think I was overthinking it. I think pcesar12 successfully identified the imagery used in this poem to be implied metaphors for real siblings and overall the sibling rivalry to be a kind of controlling metaphor for the overall poem. Although I think going back to the first point made, maybe this poem really is about death, and although the statements made in the poem may have been metaphors, maybe the speaker is a troubled, very disgruntled siblings with real feelings and has slight intentions to perform these actions.
I agree with what you said in your blog post Pcesar as I too was utterly confused when I first read the poem. At first glance I thought the poem was about cannibalism because of the descriptions the poet used “I have prepared my sister’s tongue” and “I will have my brother’s heart … slow cooked.” However after reading it several times I came to realize that the references the poet made to the tongue and heart were her describing her brother and sister personalities. As you mentioned in your blog, the sister seems to have a sharp tongue as indicated by the poet’s reference to “small bones and gristle.” The brother’s personality is described through his heart being “firm and rather dry”, thus signifying his selfishness and his unwillingness to possess sympathy to others. The poem overall seems to carry a very sarcastic tone as the title of the poem “The joy of Cooking”, contradicts the overall content of the poem.
I also agree that the speaker is comparing the tounge and the heart to her sister and brother. When talking about the tounge, the speakers says, “..scrubbed and skinned it.” This leads me to believe that the sister uses profanity or speaks rudely to people. Also, the speaker says the tounge will grow back which leads me to believe that the sister will continue using bad language. The speaker thinks her brother is cold-hearted by saying, “It resembles muscle more than organ meat…” This could mean that the brother really has no heart, it’s just another muscle that he needs to survive. I feel like the title of this poem fits because the speaker probably has a joy for cooking. She gets to be creative with her cooking whie also criticizing her siblings.
I also agree that the poem has nothing to do with cooking but more so to do with the speaker correcting or punishing his/her siblings. The speaker mentions scrubbing and skinning her sister’s tongue. I agree with shae that the speaker mentions that her sister’s tongue had “roots, small bones, and gristle” to say that her sister had a sharp tongue. I also agree that this may also mean that she used a lot of foul language. I also found it ironic that she calls her sister’s tongue “economical” beacause “it probably will grow back.” To me, this means that she had corrected her sister concerning her tongue and only noticed temporary change. I also agree that the speaker thinks that her brother is hard-hearted.
I agree with the responses that everyone has given. In the poem “The Joy of Cooking ” by Elaine Magarrell, the poet uses the brother and sisters body parts to describe whats on the menu. She is not really cooking their body parts. She is using her siblings body parts to describe their personalities. The sister is discribed to be a person who loves to use faul language and may not change. The brother is descibed to be a heartless and insensitive because his heart is dry and resembles a muscle rather than an organ.
I agree with everyone and would like to add that by the way the speaker describes her brother and sister personality reveals her own personality. When describing her sister, we get the impression that her is sister rude and full of personality. The speaker appears older than her sister and stern showing disapproval towards the sisters behavior. Yet when describing her brother who seems to lack personality the speaker appears to be young and less serious than the brother, which makes me believe that the speaker’s personality is between the two personalities.
I totally agree with every bodies responses. At first when I read this poem I was like what is going on. After reading it couple of time I started seeing deeper. This poem is very interesting in a way that you have to figure it out one by one reading it once will shock you, but digging deeper into it will actually make you think. I totally agree with everyone’s responses.
Hello all, I am a student from another Eng 2003 Introduction to poetry class. Our assignment this week was to get involve in another class’s discussion on open lab. I chose this class because i have had a chance to ready some of the same materials you guys are reading. As for this post i think you are right for stating that the narrator isn’t necessarily referring to actually eating eating her own siblings. But my own description of the poem is somewhat different from yours therefore i do not completely agree with your post. In my own analysis i think the narrator is merely discussing how she prepares the food that her siblings enjoy the most. She described the types of seasoning the sister likes to have in her food. She has prepare this meal that her sister tongue love to taste and although it may have been a pricey meal she doesn’t seem to mind. The narrator also talks about her cooking her brother’s favorite meal. And although the meal is big enough to feed six people the brother loves it so much that he barely leave any for two people. Please give me some feedback as to my own description as whether or not you disagree.
The poem
Elaine Magarrell
The Joy of Cooking
I have prepared my sister’s tongue,
scrubbed and skinned it,
trimmed the roots, small bones, and gristle.
Carved through the hump it slices thin and neat.
Best with horseradish
and economical–it probably will grow back.
Next time perhaps a creole sauce
or mold of aspic?
I will have my brother’s heart,
which is firm and rather dry,
slow cooked. It resembles muscle
more than organ meat
and needs an apple-onion stuffing
to make it interesting at all.
Although beef heart serves six
my brother’s heart barely feeds two.
I could also have it braised
and served in sour sauce.
i agree with everyone comments… i also think that there was a strong reaction when i read this and very puzzling … my first intake of this poem was really a dark… and talks about crazy deads…. however rereading it does show rivalry and really nun to do with cooking… in my opinion a better name for this poem should have been given because its gives description of two personalities and very confusing