A Study Of Animal Images In Margaret Atwood's Poetry

Margaret Atwood is a famous Canadian poet,novelist,literary critic and environmentalist.As the queen of Canadian literature,she is one of the most influential writers in the world.When I read Atwood's poems,I found that animal images appeared in poems frequently and had different forms.However,they all share a common identity:"the other" who is mysterious,unknowable,and destructive.In this paper,I used the book of poetry Eating Fire as an example,to analyze animal images in Atwood poetry and explore Atwood's "decentering"thought.In the introduction part,this paper summarizes the focus and research status of Atwood's research in foreign and domestic academic circles in recent years,and puts forward my own thoughts and prospects.This paper is divided into four chapters.The first chapter comprehensively discusses the characteristics of animal images,divided into two aspects,duality and symbolization.Duality refers to the antagonism of nature and civilization.Animal images are characterized by crossing the human civilization and nature.Symbolization refers to the literary and cultural connotation of animal images.The second chapter is the classification of animal images in Atwood's poetry.It is divided into four categories:natural wild,anthropomorphic fairy tale,fictional complex and organ bones.I will combine each type of animal images analyze the text specifically.The third chapter is the analysis of using animal images.The first section from the writer's life experience explore why Atwood keep a close relationship with animals.The second section explores the defamiliarization effect of animal images in poetry from the perspective of artistic effect.The forth chapter is the value and meaning of animal images.Atwood used a large number of animal images in poetry because of her "decentering" thought.Animals and nature,women and other oppressed groups are all "the others".But different from the general literary criticism to deconstruct the binary opposition,Atwood's"decentering" strategy was intended to strengthen the other's attributes,to strengthen the opposition between the self and the other.In her poems,the others,such as animals and women,are described as mysterious,unknowable,and destructive;to remind the human should respect the others.The last section explores the social significance of Atwood's poems from the practical level,which has an important influence on the Canadian national identity and the warning of ecological crisis.