4. February

February
Margaret Atwood

This poem approaches the idea that humans, are like cats. The poem is almost a satire of the main concerns of humans (specifically during winter): marking their territory and sex. Human's main concern is watching hockey, eating a ton, and sex. The speaker seems to imply that it is the season that elicits these actions. It seems to be saying that the dullness and death of winter is equivalent to people's love lives, as a "month of despair with a skewered heart in the middle." At the end of the poem, the speaker mentions the life and beauty of spring. I think spring is an analogy for a joyous love life, contrasted against the dullness and pathetic cattiness of love during the winter.