An Analysis Of Howard Nemerov s The Vacuum - 892 Words

A Husbands Loss ‘The Vacuum’ is a poem that was written by Howard Nemerov. The poem uses the theme of symbolism to convey the relationship between a vacuum cleaner and a widower. The poem can be seen as a symbolic description of the experience he is going through after the demise of his beloved wife. The sentence structure and the type of figurative language requires one to evaluate and analyze the poem effectively to understand the meaning. The line in the poem â€Å"The vacuum cleaner sulks in the corner closet, its bag limp as a stopped lung† (Mays 580) is indicative of the symbolism that his wife was the housekeeper and when her lungs stopped, the vacuum cleaner also stopped, because she was the one that used the vacuum. Nemrov’s poetry shows a consistent emphasis on thought and his poems relate a broad spectrum of emotions and a variety of concerns (Web 1). In ‘The Vacuum’, Howard brings out the emotions of an elderly man after he lost his wife, which ushered him in a life of loneliness and sorrow. The writer used the ‘Vacuum’ pun to distinguish between the obvious homemaking profession of his wife and despair of the obvious grieving by her husband. Nemerov did not use the vacuum cleaner symbol as a primary personification since it could have limited the manner in which he outlined the emotions of the gentleman in the poem. However, the use of the vacuum symbolism was perfect in an elucidating emptiness that was caused by the death of the wife. The author uses the vacuum