David Ignatow The Bagel Analysis

Love is a beautiful chaos that ranges anywhere from being completely platonic, to being exceptionally romantic. Sometimes, the feelings people have for others can build up their relationship. Other times, they can emotionally and mentally drain one or more of the people involved due to lack of understanding, compatibility, or just naturally drifting apart over time. The poem "The Bagel", by David Ignatow, depicts a bagel being personified to represent the inamorata or inamorato that the speaker lost long ago. To begin, the speaker recollects his memories of his lover. Flashbacks of when they met come to his mind: "I stopped to pick up the bagel" (1). This is said to bring up the memory of him trying to "pick them up" and the situation possibly not going the way he had expected them; They most likely rejected his request to be together. The fact that the situation …show more content…
He is suddenly okay with things not working out the way he wanted them to. He says he 's fallen "head over heels, one complete somersault / after another like a bagel" (11-12) which can interpreted in two different ways. In the first, he seems to have seen that the relationship would not have worked out with his 'love ' and he has gone to accept this fact and be happy for them in whatever they are doing with their lives whilst continuing his own. In the second, he has fallen for another person , hints the term 'after another like a bagel ', because he has fallen for someone that favors the one he still has a liking to. In both cases, It is still shown that he gave his all for this person and that he is okay with not being with them. In The line "and strangely happy with myself" (13), the speaker acknowledges that everything happens for a reason and is happy for this lesson he has learned while trying to chase someone who doesn 't love him back. Overall, the experience most likely changed him and set an outline for future relations he may have with