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Part I
In the poem "The Cinnamon Peeler" by Michael Ondaatje, Cinnamon is used as a symbol for sexual desire and love.
The poem opens up with this erotic symbol. Though to ride alone is not in itself erotic, combined with the word bed it becomes very sexual.
The narrator goes on deeper into this metaphor,
He reveals his sexual desire for the woman by talking of the areas of her body where his fingers would touch (which is made obvious, because in the profession of a cinnamon peeler, the "profession of his fingers" would cover them with the stench of cinnamon. The places he had touched, her breast and shoulders, hint at sexual desire and lust.
Not only is this symbol for only sexual desire and lust, but also for love, in this case within marriage.
His wife is glad for the mark of love that he has left on her, the proof that they love each other and are together. The smell of cinnamon is a metaphor for their love and the home and bed they share together.
Part II
Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy" is about her father and her his similarities with her husband, and how they are both terrible men, in her eyes. She relates them to Nazi and Hitler and herself to a Jew. In her life she went through a very difficult marital separation before her suicide. This could mean that she very well thinks of her husband this way, and perhaps her father too. The poem does ring some truth about her father, because he was German, so it very well could all be true from her point of view. I believe that Sylvia Plath would disagree that poems are only "art and lies" because it seems that her poem holds a lot of truth and emotion from her life.
In the poem "The Cinnamon Peeler" by Michael Ondaatje, Cinnamon is used as a symbol for sexual desire and love.
"If I were a cinnamon peeler
I would ride your bed"(1-2)
I would ride your bed"(1-2)
The poem opens up with this erotic symbol. Though to ride alone is not in itself erotic, combined with the word bed it becomes very sexual.
The narrator goes on deeper into this metaphor,
"Your breasts and shoulders would reek
You could never walk through markets
without the profession of my fingers
floating over you. The blind would
stumble certain of whom they approached
though you might bathe under rain gutters, monsoon."(5-11)
You could never walk through markets
without the profession of my fingers
floating over you. The blind would
stumble certain of whom they approached
though you might bathe under rain gutters, monsoon."(5-11)
He reveals his sexual desire for the woman by talking of the areas of her body where his fingers would touch (which is made obvious, because in the profession of a cinnamon peeler, the "profession of his fingers" would cover them with the stench of cinnamon. The places he had touched, her breast and shoulders, hint at sexual desire and lust.
Not only is this symbol for only sexual desire and lust, but also for love, in this case within marriage.
"What good is it
to be the lime burner's daughter
left with no trace
as if not spoken to in the act of love
as if wonder without the pleasure of a scar...
...I am the cinnamon
peeler's wife. Smell me."(37-46)
to be the lime burner's daughter
left with no trace
as if not spoken to in the act of love
as if wonder without the pleasure of a scar...
...I am the cinnamon
peeler's wife. Smell me."(37-46)
His wife is glad for the mark of love that he has left on her, the proof that they love each other and are together. The smell of cinnamon is a metaphor for their love and the home and bed they share together.
Part II
Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy" is about her father and her his similarities with her husband, and how they are both terrible men, in her eyes. She relates them to Nazi and Hitler and herself to a Jew. In her life she went through a very difficult marital separation before her suicide. This could mean that she very well thinks of her husband this way, and perhaps her father too. The poem does ring some truth about her father, because he was German, so it very well could all be true from her point of view. I believe that Sylvia Plath would disagree that poems are only "art and lies" because it seems that her poem holds a lot of truth and emotion from her life.
