Anorexic: Structure & Language Techniques

Anorexic: Structure & Language Techniques

“Anorexic” Structural Elements

Use of Sonnet Form

  • Boland crafts “Anorexic” as a modernized Petrarchan sonnet.
  • It consists of an octave (which asks a question or poses a problem) and a sestet (which resolves the problem or answers the question).

Innovative Usage of Sonnet Structure

  • Unlike traditional sonnets, “Anorexic” doesn’t adhere strictly to the common conventions of sonnets.
  • Boland uses the form to create a dialogue with the past, but also challenge its traditions.

Language Techniques in “Anorexic”

Use of Imagery

  • “Anorexic” is rich in religious imagery and metaphor, drawn from Catholic theology.
  • Boland uses this to convey the destructive nature of the speaker’s obsession with self-control and purity.

Use of Alliteration and Assonance

  • Boland employs alliteration and assonance throughout the poem, forming a musicality that emphasizes the speaker’s obsession and mental torment.

Use of Personification

  • Boland personifies hunger, turning it into a male entity whose control the speaker seeks to escape.

Use of Symbolism

  • The envisioned body is a symbol of the perfect, lean ‘model’ standard preferred in society. This symbol showcases the dangers of aspiring to unachievable standards.

Metaphorical Language in “Anorexic”

Body as Battleground

  • Boland represents the body as a site of struggle, reinforcing the tension the speaker feels between personal desires versus societal expectations, resembling Ireland’s history with colonizers.

The Flesh Versus the Spirit

  • The poem can also be read as a metaphorical exploration of the age-old conflict between the flesh and the spirit, underscoring the power dynamic present in the speaker’s relationship with eating.

Silver Versus Rust

  • The speaker aspires to the purity of silver, juxtaposed against the corrosive rust, demonstrating the obsession with purity in “Anorexic”.

Usage of Voice

First-Person Voice

  • The poem adopts a first-person voice, establishing an intimate relationship between the speaker and the reader.

Command and Interrogative Voice

  • The command and interrogative voice that Boland uses reinforces the internal struggle within the speaker, thus making the reader privy to the speaker’s mental and physical battle with anorexia.