22 pages • 44 minutes read
Margaret AtwoodThe Circle Game
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1964A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“This Is a Photograph of Me” by Margaret Atwood (1964)
“This Is a Photograph of Me” is in the same collection as “The Circle Game,” and both poems include a first-person narrator addressing the theme of “surface versus depth” with heavy subject matter and an occasional light way with words. In this poem, the speaker announces that they are in the photograph, but the observer will not be able to see them right away:
The photograph was taken
the day after I drowned.
I am in the lake, in the center
of the picture, just under the surface (Lines 15-18).
“In My Ravines” by Margaret Atwood (1964)
“In My Ravines” is part of the Circle Game collection and, similar to “The Circle Game,” introduces elements of nature and young children playing. This time, the children play with, rather than against, their environment: “small boys climbing / in the leafless trees / or throwing pebbles” (Lines 12-14). Yet, just as the poem suggests comfort in the actions, a sense of horror, similar to the Gothic imagery in “The Circle Game,” appears at the end of the poem, as shown by “bloodred night / falling, bursting purple / as ancient rage” (Lines 32-34).
“Daddy” by Sylvia Plath (1965)
Just as Sylvia Plath was at the end of her poetry career, Atwood was beginning hers. Similar to “A Circle Game,” “Daddy” addresses some dark themes involving the loss of childhood innocence and the juxtaposition of adult/parenthood concerns and childhood ones. Plath writes of her daddy’s German as “gobbledygoo” (Line 42), almost making it seem like a game of words, but then likens him to a threatening Nazi with his “neat moustache / and [his] Aryan eye, bright blue” (Lines 43-44).
Further Literary Resources
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
In this famous dystopian novel, Atwood envisions a totalitarian state (known as the Republic of Gilead) that takes over the United States. In this state, a woman known as Offred recounts her tale as an independent, married woman/mother turned handmaid, now at the sexual beckoning of her commander, one of the rulers of the new society. The themes of conformity versus individuality, gender expectations, and freedom versus indoctrination echo those found in her earlier “The Circle Game” poem.
“The Circle Game by Margaret Atwood” by Jennifer Garceau (2014)
In this Navigator article, Garceau finds herself going back to a poem from her youth, now able to appreciate and see the themes more clearly as an adult. She goes through “The Circle Game” stanza by stanza to discuss various themes, such as childhood versus adulthood, with line evidence from the poem. At the end, she acknowledges other themes not addressed in the article could be interpreted from the poem because there is so much to glean from “The Circle Game.”
“The Challenge of Margaret Atwood” by Sophie Gilbert (2019)
Atlantic journalist Sophie Gilbert recounts an interview with Atwood in which the poet remarks on her “feminist” legacy. Atwood often dislikes the label “feminist” because she feels it’s ideological; she believes that her writing, in contrast, is not ideological but observational.
“Analysis of Margaret Atwood’s Works” by Narsullah Mambrol (2021)
In this article from literariness.org, Mambrol seeks common themes among Atwood’s works. She focuses on three traditions that influence Atwood: Anglo-American feminism, Canadian nationalism, and Gothic Romanticism. In particular, she applies Gothic terror, as associated with the cold Canadian terrain, to Atwood’s early poetry collections, including The Circle Game. Mambrol makes note of Atwood’s emphasis on maps, a symbol found in “The Circle Game” poem, which Mambrol associates with her Canadian identity.
Related Titles
By Margaret Atwood
