Mark Strand's poem "Giving Myself Up" illustrates the surrendering of one's senses and self-identity in order to "[begin] again without anything". The speaker attempts to be impersonal while expressing trepidations that are most certainly personal. The speaker lists over a dozen items that he "gives up", parts of his body as well as his "smell" and "clothes." These items, both tangible and abstract, represent the degree of discontent that the speaker is dealing with internally, as well as the speaker's denunciation towards himself both physically and mentally. Strand's use of metaphors comparing the speaker's body parts and other attributes to elements associated with negative connotations expresses the lack of fulfillment the speaker possesses, and Strand's use of repetition reflects the intense desire to renounce and surrender everything related to the speaker's self in order to create a new identity, an identity that will fulfill the speaker. .
Line 1 of "Giving Myself Up" compares "eyes" to "glass eggs", insinuating that the eyes of the speaker lack life, emotion and individuality. This negative depiction of what most people would think to be a distinctively unique feature of an individual sets a glum mood for the remainder of the poem. Due to this first line, the reader is inclined to imagine the speaker as not only typical but also as unexceptional. Strand's use of "glass eggs" can also suggest that the speaker has fragile eyes, meaning that after all the speaker has dealt with and seen throughout his life his eyes are now fragile and sensitive to the outside world. .
Strand's primary type of figurative language utilized throughout "Giving Myself Up" is quite evident through lines 1-14. His use of metaphors in every line, with exception to the last three lines, maximizes meaning through a small amount of words.
