The Animals in That Country

by Margaret Atwood

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Canada, 20th Century

69 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.

Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Atwood's dystopic novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth ­ in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009. Ms. Atwood's work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian. In 2004 she co-invented the Long Pen TM.

Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.

Associations: Margaret Atwood was President of the Writers' Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current Vice-President of PEN International.

Reviews

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read: June 28, 2012
Second Read: July 24, 2019, Wednesday

I keep forgetting that Margaret Atwood is a breathtaking poet. I last read this book seven years ago, and was blown away again and again, rediscovering the incredible ways she explores her subject.

Three exceptional poems:

"I was reading a scientific article"


They have photographed the brain
and here is the picture, it is full of
branches as I always suspected,

each time you arrive the electricity
of seeing you is a huge
tree lumbering through my skull, the roots waving.

It is an earth, its fibres wrap
things buried, your forgotten words
are graved in my head, an intricate

red blue and pink prehensile chemistry
veined like a leaf
network, or is it a seascape
with corals and shining tentacles.

I touch you, I am created in you
somewhere as a complex
filament of light

You rest on me and my shoulder holds

your heavy unbelievable
skull, crowded with radiant
suns, a new planet, the people
submerged in you, a lost civilization
I can never excavate:

my hands trace the contours of a total
universe, its different
colours, flowers, its undiscovered
animals, violent or serene

its other air
its claws

its paradise rivers



"Axiom"


Axiom: you are a sea.
Your eye-
lids curve over chaos

My hands
where they touch you, create
small inhabited islands

Soon you will be
all earth: a known
land, a country.



"Provisions"


What should we have taken
with us? We never could decide
on that; or what to wear,
or at what time of
year we should make this journey

so here we are, in thin
raincoats and rubber boots

on the disastrous ice, the wind rising,

nothing in our pockets

but a pencil stub, two oranges
four toronto streetcar tickets

and an elastic band, holding a bundle
of small white filing-cards
printed with important facts.




First read: June 28, 2012

Atwood's second* volume of poetry and, to my mind, her greatest.


*third, fourth, FIFTH (kidding) -- Some of us can't afford expensive, limited edition collections of poetry!

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I touch you, I am created in you
somewhere as a complex
filament of light

You rest on me and my shoulder holds

your heavy unbelievable
skull, crowded with radiant
suns, a new planet, the people
submerged in you, a lost civilization
I can never excavate."

[Helen Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really moving collection of poems about the wilderness, national identity. Just abstract enough to let the mind wonder and dance. Thank you Margaret!

[Vee · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this on my walk home from school in the sunshine. wonderful time, almost cried a couple times.

[Maham Farhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favourite poems: it is dangerous to read newspapers, the giant green murder, more and more, i was reading a scientific article, a pursuit, after i fell apart and roominghouse, winter.

Honourable mentions: progressive insanities of a pioneer, the landlady and part of a day.

[❀ Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although poetry is not always my favourite genre, I was lucky to find this 1968 first edition at a book sale, marked down from 2.75 to just a dollar (and with the original receipt tucked inside noting 2.95 from a bookseller on Bloor Street). If only I could get it signed…

[Bookworm Adventure Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review, please follow the link below:
https://www.bookwormadventuregirl.com...

[Marianne Barron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ikke den lettest tilgjengelige diktsamlingen fra Atwood dette. Ikke noe å si på språket som vanlig, men jeg mangler en rød tråd. Canada står i sentrum, men særlig bedre knagg finner jeg ikke. Grei nok. Kunne tenkt meg en minus bak tre'ern..

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far I'm not as a big of a fan of her poetry as I am her novels but that's not to say that I disliked the poems collected in The Animals in that Country; I found a few of the themes to almost resonate with Oryx and Crake in the latter poems,

[Jo-Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rarely read poetry, but I did like a few of these - The animals in that country, It is dangerous to read newspapers, Chronology, The reincarnation of Captain Cook, I was reading a scientific article - they all feel quite current despite being over 50 years old.

[sumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked a foundling, part of a day, notes from various pasts, a pursuit, i was reading a scientific article, what happened, and more and more. everything else kinda pissed me off

fav: “your pain / caught up with me / only a week ago through / the ends of my fingers … no wires tender even as nerves / can transmit the impact of / our seasons, our catastrophes / while we are closed inside them.” (what happened)

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first poem in the book, Provisions, hit me like a truck. I read it several times. What a statement of reality.

Having recently read Atwood's memoir, I recognize the confusion in her life during the time she wrote these poems. There is frequent imagery of mazes, of feeling lost. Of confusion, and trying to sort out a reality. She is grasping with both hands trying to hold on.

Other favorites were What Happened and Roominghouse, Winter.

[Linda Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Atwood has a sublime way of conveying images with words.

[Rolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

The language here is elegant, and this is incredibly well-constructed poetry--though for whatever reason it just didn't speak to me the same as her prose.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Atwood but none of these stood out.

[Courtland Bethune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply stunning poetry. Gets better after every page. Speeches For Dr. Frankenstein is perfect.

Highly recommend!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"my hands where they touch you, create small inhabited islands, soon you will be all earth; a known land, a country."

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of cool poems and a little different from what I suspected. I really enjoyed the museum piece. Worth a shout.

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do I give it more than 5 stars??????

[Sophia Eck · Rating 3 out of 5]

“no wires tender even as nerves
can transmit the impact of
our seasons, our catastrophes
while we are closed inside them.”

this was a great classic collection of poetry from atwood. i love atwood as an author and this was my first foray into her poetry and it is as touching and sneakily profound as any of the books i have read by her. atwood is so good at imparting an impact despite her use of common speak and mundane aspects of life.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those Atwoods I read in the summer of '99 and thought was good, although maybe it doesn't dive as deep as some of her other works. This book starts to delve into the subjects she would find interesting later--power imbalances between men and women, eco-consciousness, and political/humanitarian problems.

[Maddy]

I read this when I was young (as it's in my mom's bookcase), I still remember "Every time I hit the keys/on my electric typewriter/another village explodes."

Now that's great poetry, right up there with "I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each/I do not think that they will sing to me."

[Alexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lighter (perhaps less complex?) collection of Atwood poetry, less about people and relationships and more about nature. I thought I was connecting less with this, yet in the end was left feeling quite deliciously satisfied.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doesn't read like poetry from 40+ years ago. The seedlings for Onyx and Cake are evident in the title piece, "Speeches for Dr. Frankenstein" and "Elegy for giant tortoises" among others.

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

Not as strong as some of her later collections, but I still enjoyed it. I am totally into reading Atwood's early work (particularly the poetry) and seeing the seeds of her later work.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful collection of interesting poems, some of which have such achingly lovely prose.