[you fit into me]

Canadian author Margaret Atwood is best known for her works of fiction; however, she is also a prolific poet that has been a leading force in the landscape of contemporary poetry for decades. Atwood was drawn to fairytales, myths, and creative narratives from an early age. She has numerous poetry cycles written from the perspective of fairytale characters, namely female characters, as a way to give voice and agency to traditional damsels in distress. Her poetry feeds off of the sinister themes hidden within fairytale stories, exposing the seedy underbelly of the surface level happily ever after. Similarly, the seemingly perfect romantic pairing in “[you fit into me]” transforms into a power struggle and act of gruesome violence, revealing to readers that everything is not as it seems.

Atwood’s writing gained critical acclaim during the 1970s and 1980s. Her eighth collection of poetry, Power Politics (1971), in which “[you fit into me]” first appears, is one of her breakout projects, critiquing patriarchy from the inside out. Atwood explores themes with political and feminist implications across her poetry and prose, creating striking social commentary that has inspired countless female writers to continue the fight in their own work.