Pearson Edexcel · A-Level · English Literature

    Course version: 9ET0 · Version from Sept 2015

    Poetry – Section A: Post-2000 Poetry – Poems of the Decade: An Anthology…

    Full specification wording

    Component 3: Poetry – Section A: Post-2000 Poetry – Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry 2002–2011: Eat Me Patience Agbabi

    Patience Agbabi's 'Eat Me' is a dramatic monologue about a woman trapped in an abusive feeder-feedee relationship.

    Checked against the Pearson Edexcel 9ET0 specification (opens in a new tab) on .

    • Point 1 of 20
    • 4 key terms

    Study notes

    From the checked teaching notes for this specification point.

    The idea

    Patience Agbabi's 'Eat Me' is a dramatic monologue about a woman trapped in an abusive feeder-feedee relationship. Her partner controls and objectifies her by forcing her to gain weight for his gratification, until the body he has enlarged becomes the means of his death: she rolls onto him and suffocates him. Ten tercets and chains of assonant triple rhyme give the account a controlled, claustrophobic pattern, while sensory food and body imagery exposes coercion, dependency and dehumanisation. The ending reverses physical power but remains disturbing rather than offering a simple triumph, because the speaker has endured lasting bodily and psychological violence.

    What earns the marks

    • Analyse how the dramatic-monologue voice reveals coercion, dependency and the speaker's diminished sense of self.
    • Evaluate how ten tercets and each stanza's assonant triple rhyme create controlled patterning that echoes the partner's coercive shaping of her body.
    • Explore food, appetite and body imagery as a means of exposing sexist objectification and domestic abuse.
    • Assess the ending's reversal of physical power, while considering why killing the abuser does not make the damage or emotional emptiness disappear.

    Common mistakes and how to put them right

    • Reading the poem only as a story about weight gain.

      Put it right: Connect feeding, confinement and dependence to coercive control and objectification.

    • Saying the speaker eats her partner.

      Put it right: She rolls over and suffocates him with the body he forced her to enlarge.

    • Calling the ending uncomplicated liberation.

      Put it right: Weigh the reversal of power against the final emptiness and the lasting violence already done to the speaker.

    Exam tips

    • Compare 'Eat Me' with poems about coercive relationships, bodily autonomy or reversals of power, while keeping Agbabi's specific methods central.
    • Track pronouns and bodily possession to show how the speaker moves from being shaped as his object to acting with lethal agency.
    • Analyse a stanza's linked vowel sounds rather than calling the pattern full rhyme: the controlled but imperfect music reinforces unease.

    Try the lesson

    The start of the Component 3: Poetry – Section A: Post-2000 Poetry – Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry 2002–2011: Eat Me Patience Agbabi lesson, made from checked teaching notes for this specification point.

    Have a go first

    What is the central dynamic explored between the speaker and her partner in Patience Agbabi's poem 'Eat Me'?

    Listen

    Patience Agbabi's 'Eat Me' is a dramatic monologue about a woman trapped in an abusive feeder-feedee relationship. Her partner controls and objectifies her by forcing her to gain weight for his gratification, until the body he has enlarged becomes the means of his death: she rolls onto him and suffocates him. Ten tercets and chains of assonant triple rhyme give the account a controlled, claustrophobic pattern, while sensory food and body imagery exposes coercion, dependency and dehumanisation. The ending reverses physical power but remains disturbing rather than offering a simple triumph, because the speaker has endured lasting bodily and psychological violence. A strong answer earns marks for these points. Analyse how the dramatic-monologue voice reveals coercion, dependency and the speaker's diminished sense of self. Evaluate how ten tercets and each stanza's assonant triple rhyme create controlled patterning that echoes the partner's coercive shaping of her body. Explore food, appetite and body imagery as a means of exposing sexist objectification and domestic abuse. Assess the ending's reversal of physical power, while considering why killing the abuser does not make the damage or emotional emptiness disappear. A common slip: Reading the poem only as a story about weight gain. Instead, connect feeding, confinement and dependence to coercive control and objectification. Exam tip: Compare 'Eat Me' with poems about coercive relationships, bodily autonomy or reversals of power, while keeping Agbabi's specific methods central.

    See it

    A top-down flowchart of eight boxes. The first box states that the partner controls and objectifies the speaker, leading to a second box where he forces her to gain weight for his gratification. This leads to a third box noting that coercion, dependency and dehumanisation are exposed through food and body imagery. The fourth box states that the body he has enlarged becomes the means of his death, leading to a fifth box where she rolls onto him and suffocates him. The sixth box notes that physical power is reversed, leading to a seventh box stating the ending remains disturbing rather than a simple triumph, and finally an eighth box noting the lasting bodily and psychological violence endured.
    The sequence from coercive control and forced weight gain through the reversal of physical power to the unresolved, disturbing ending.

    Put it in order

    Put these steps in the order they happen.

    1. 1. She rolls onto him and suffocates him
    2. 2. Lasting bodily and psychological violence endured
    3. 3. Physical power is reversed
    4. 4. Partner controls and objectifies the speaker
    5. 5. He forces her to gain weight for his gratification
    6. 6. Ending remains disturbing rather than a simple triumph
    7. 7. Coercion, dependency and dehumanisation exposed through food and body imagery
    8. 8. The body he has enlarged becomes the means of his death

    Key words

    Say what each word means before you turn the card.

    Power and Control

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    Gender and Patriarchy

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    Transgression and Taboo

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    Bodily Autonomy

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    See every definition
    Power and Control
    The partner controls and objectifies the speaker by forcing her to gain weight for his gratification, until the ending reverses physical power.
    Gender and Patriarchy
    Food, appetite and body imagery expose sexist objectification and domestic abuse within the relationship.
    Transgression and Taboo
    The speaker rolls onto her partner and suffocates him with the body he forced her to enlarge.
    Bodily Autonomy
    The speaker moves from being shaped as his object to acting with lethal agency, though lasting bodily and psychological violence remains.

    Label the diagram

    Some boxes have lost their names. Pick the right name for each number.

    The diagram again, with 3 boxes numbered instead of named. A top-down flowchart of eight boxes. The first box states that the partner controls and objectifies the speaker, leading to a second box where he forces her to gain weight for his gratification. This leads to a third box noting that coercion, dependency and dehumanisation are exposed through food and body imagery. The fourth box states that the body he has enlarged becomes the means of his death, leading to a fifth box where she rolls onto him and suffocates him. The sixth box notes that physical power is reversed, leading to a seventh box stating the ending remains disturbing rather than a simple triumph, and finally an eighth box noting the lasting bodily and psychological violence endured.

    • 1Box 1

    • 2Box 2

    • 3Box 3

    0 of 3 labelled

    There is more to this lesson

    The full lesson goes on to check your understanding and help you earn the marks. Create a free account to carry on, with your progress saved.

    Carry on with the full lesson

    A week of Premium from your first lesson · Then the free plan continues · No card, no charge

    Test your understanding of Component 3: Poetry – Section A: Post-2000 Poetry – Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry 2002–2011: Eat Me Patience Agbabi

    Active recall beats re-reading. Take an instant quiz now to test what you’ve learned and lock it into long-term memory.

    Take topic quiz

    A week of Premium from your first lesson · Then the free plan continues · No card, no charge

    Start free

    Cookies on MasteryMind

    Essential cookies keep you signed in.

    Analytics and advertising cookies stay off unless you accept.

    Read our Privacy Policy.