Quite unexpectedly, as Vasserot
The armless ambidextrian was lighting
A match between his great and second toe,
And Ralph the lion was engaged in biting
The neck of Madame Sossman while the drum
Pointed, and Teeny was about to cough
In waltz-time swinging Jocko by the thumb
Quite unexpectedly to top blew off:
Those thousands of white faces, those dazed eyes,
There in the starless dark, the poise, the hover,
There with vast wings across the cancelled skies,
There in the sudden blackness the black pall
Of nothing, nothing, nothing -- nothing at all.
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ReplyDeleteThe images created in the first stanza by MacLeish,allow the reader to think of life as a circus due to all the amazing tricks the lion and Vasserot are able to perform. Also the line "In Waltz-time" suggest that life is not only oddity but also joyful. Since waltz-time is by definition notational convention used in Western musical notation, the reader can infer that life as describe by MacLeish, is a musical that enchants humans and converts them into followers. I believe the musical part not only refers to the joy of life but also refers to the all the kinds of pleasure that come with life itself. Since MacLeish refers to the end of the world, its important to remember that it has being constituted by the bible that there will be a heaven an a hell when the end comes, which is the transition we see in the second stanza. The last line of the first stanza is the transition point of when the end begins. The new images created by use of diction in the second stanza
ReplyDelete"starless dark,
the poise,
the hover,
There with vast wings across the cancelled skies"
Suggest that as the end of the world arrives angels will come to the rescue of those we have made it to the promise land. However, of those thousands of dead bodies "thousands of white faces, those dazed eyes" some will face the dark side that is described in the last two lines. Those who remain will have to face their reality that there is "nothing,nothing -- nothing at all" left for them.
When the author says "Quite unexpectedly" in the beginning it makes you wonder why he would say that but then as you keep reading you understand that he is trying to refer that "death" comes unexpectedly. You can tell he is talking about death because of the title "The End of the World". The author uses anaphora which is the repetition of similar words. The words that he uses a lot are 'there" and "nothing" in the second stanza of the poem. He also uses alliteration in the second stanza. You can see that he uses alliteration at the end of every line, for example over and hover rhyme, eyes and skies do too and pall and all as well. The poem also consists of dark imagery because at the end when he mentions "There in the sudden blackness the black pall" and also in the title of the poem which is "The End of the World".
ReplyDeleteThe first stanza refers to the circus like quality to life. "Quite unexpectedly the top blew off" is the transition in which the end of the world becomes apparent. The second stanza becomes darker as well as evil, referring to death “white faces and dazed eyes show dead bodies”. Author describes death can not be controlled in any way. Certainly, it can mean history in religion when Armageddon, God has sent down his angels, "There with those vast wings across canceled skies,” it can mean an end of human race. “Nothing, nothing, nothing---nothing at all,” everything that town’s people owned or had are left with nothingness.
ReplyDelete