poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

This peom, i think is one of her better ones. This peom shows how words are power and yet how evil words can be. I like the fact that she started out with saying her daughter is learning to spell. Because in a way you dont want her to learn how to spell because with the knowlegde of reading and spelling comes with the knowledge of horrible things along with good things which Margaret gives an insite to with the statement about bout women having their legs tied together so they could not give birth..

That's a message I don't think many poets would want to send off. I don't think the poet ever said anything about words or knowledge being evil, just incredibly powerful. She never said the witch was evil, just that others feared her words. The poet probably was very excited about her daughter's beginning to spell, not alarmed in the least.

Has anyone noticed the pun on the word 'spell' - as in to spell words and to cast spells (as a witch does)?

i think there is that idea of words being both powerfull and easy, however i believe it is about female poets. how they exert power with eachh word but to others it seems as if it is evil

It just so happens that one of Atwoods ancestors was pursecuted as a witch. It is, I think, an entertaining twist. Her ancestress had the power of magic in her words, Atwood herself has a power with words or she wouldn't be the acclaimed author that she is today. She takes delight in watching her daughter learn to make and use words because she is passing that tradition on to her child and to future generations.