Fallen Nests: an Exploration of Personal and Political Realities in Fall 1961 . From a dark and personal perspective, the poem takes a disturbing look at the individual's malaise during this time. Despite his self-centered perspective, Lowell allows the poem to make vague allusions to the larger political situation surrounding the nuclear threat. Through these allusions, he frames the individual experience of the poem's speaker within a broader political context. Like the blurred background of a watercolor, this backdrop is indistinct compared to the sharp individual presented in the foreground of his work, but its presence nonetheless contributes to the hidden weight of nuclear paranoia that gives the poem its mood of sinister and of uncertainty. no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The movement of the poem is quite arrhythmic, with sporadic and unpredictable rhymes. The effect is a deliberate awkwardness in sound and the creation of a sense of anticipation as the reader waits for every possible rhyme to be delivered. In this way, the form of the poem captures the unease of the individual and society as a whole at the time and plays on the anxiety of the American people as they await the inevitable first missile strike. Rhyme is also used to inject moments of personality into the poem. The half-rhyme of the couplet “minnow” and “window” on lines 9 and 10 creates an almost fanciful effect, a sneer of black humor that undercuts the three menacing lines that precede it. Sometimes rhymes in the poem string together loosely related details of the scene described. This loose connection appears in the half-rhyme of “shield” and “wild” that connects the imagery of crying spiders to the helplessness of a protective father to protect his child from a nuclear threat. Another example occurs in the half-rhyme of "mirror" and "summer", which connects the mirror-like clock face to the metaphorical mirror of introspection that nature provides in the world of the poem. In addition to his use of rhyming connections, Lowell brings together his thematically related images and ideas through the recurrence of certain motifs throughout the poem. These patterns find their common points in the shielding qualities and the circular and spherical images. The “bland, ambassadorial face of the moon” shares its shape with the face of the aquarium in the studio window that isolates the speaker from the outside world. The circular and spherical imagery expands to include the diver's "glass bell," which is connected in form and function as a protective barrier to the workshop window, the father's shield, and the swinging "nest of the oriole” at the end of the poem. The result of this thematic connection is a self-centered view of the world of the poem; the reader feels like they are seeing through the speaker's eyes as he freely associates all elements of his environment with the pervasive paranoia he feels. In this way, the poem feels personal and very specific and complete in its foreground depiction of the individual's apprehension of the possibility of nuclear war. The primary way in which this personal anxiety is projected through the poem's catalog of varied images is through discordant earthquakes. of poetic disturbance which reverberates on the thoughts of the speaker. The face of an alien orange moon reflected on the clock disrupts one of the sources of familiarity and comfort the speaker expects when he looks toward it. Metaphorically, this disruption of comfort extends to the political level throughconnotations evoked by the additional descriptions of the moon's reflection as "bland" and "ambassador". These descriptions metaphorically suggest that the greater political problem represented by the moon has been hidden behind a bland and insensitive face in the form of political discussion. The monotony of such discussion is summed up in the “tock, tock, tock” hum of the grandfather clock. Thus, the government's approach to the possibility of a nuclear strike is indirectly criticized as being an insufficient source of back-and-forth, and the previous comfort offered by high politics is thus removed as a source of reassurance for the 'individual. The disturbing lack of comfort in light of the ominous new nuclear threat culminates again on a political level in the third stanza: Our end draws near, The moon rises, Beaming with terror. The State, Is a diver under a glass bell. stanza, the comfort and protection offered by the state against a nuclear attack proves to be as inadequate as a transparent glass bell isolating the "terror" from the moonlight. Lowell restates this same sentiment elsewhere in the poem, in line 8: "we have spoken of our extinction unto death," a line which reminds the reader that, whatever the political jokes, the immense destructive potential of a nuclear threat is too great. perilous and unpredictable to denigrate. An additional disturbed image comes with the lines, "We are like many wild spiders crying together, but without tears". The most shocking element of this strange fallout shelter imagery is the bizarre idea of crying without tears. Through this idea, the lines metaphorically silence the audience's anxiety in a kind of disruptive stasis that casts fear into a silent role. Public silence thus alters the very purpose of fear by placing anxiety within individuals but not allowing them to share its burden with one another, again resulting in the removal of a source of comfort possible in the poem. the father's capacity to protect his child, which is reduced to insufficiency against the massive destruction of a nuclear attack. Another disruption of comfort arises from the phrase “A swallow makes a summer.” This reversal of proverbial wisdom disrupts the reader's expectations, thereby allowing the poet to declare that, under the looming threat of nuclear war, the truths that comfort us can be reversed and turned against their opposites - in this case, the detonation of a single nuclear warhead. could certainly lead to an entire nuclear summer. The completeness with which the world of the poem is disrupted shows how nuclear paranoia extends beyond the level of the poem's individual speaker. The upheaval of reality in the poem affects the whole of society by altering even the sources of comfort of the most fundamental and universal truths. Even the passing of time is perceived through a displaced and paradoxical perception as the agonizing “tock, tock, tock” of seconds continues indefinitely from stuck hands. Furthermore, the connection between the clock and the passage of months through the reflection of the moon and the setting of the poem in autumn suggest that this stopping of time extends upward into an entire era of paralyzed paranoia. The framing of individual experience against a society and This temporal period through metaphorical political criticism and universal connections is important in creating a complete picture of the nuclear threat in the fall of 1961. The poem demands that the bigger picture is at least loosely framed in order to create a real sense of the weight and scale behind the nuclear threat. the anxiety of the Cold War. At the end of.

Essay / Fallen Nests: an Exploration of Personal and Political Realities in Fall 1961 . From a dark and personal perspective, the poem takes a disturbing look at the individual's malaise during this time. Despite his self-centered perspective, Lowell allows the poem to make vague allusions to the larger political situation surrounding the nuclear threat. Through these allusions, he frames the individual experience of the poem's speaker within a broader political context. Like the blurred background of a watercolor, this backdrop is indistinct compared to the sharp individual presented in the foreground of his work, but its presence nonetheless contributes to the hidden weight of nuclear paranoia that gives the poem its mood of sinister and of uncertainty. no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The movement of the poem is quite arrhythmic, with sporadic and unpredictable rhymes. The effect is a deliberate awkwardness in sound and the creation of a sense of anticipation as the reader waits for every possible rhyme to be delivered. In this way, the form of the poem captures the unease of the individual and society as a whole at the time and plays on the anxiety of the American people as they await the inevitable first missile strike. Rhyme is also used to inject moments of personality into the poem. The half-rhyme of the couplet “minnow” and “window” on lines 9 and 10 creates an almost fanciful effect, a sneer of black humor that undercuts the three menacing lines that precede it. Sometimes rhymes in the poem string together loosely related details of the scene described. This loose connection appears in the half-rhyme of “shield” and “wild” that connects the imagery of crying spiders to the helplessness of a protective father to protect his child from a nuclear threat. Another example occurs in the half-rhyme of "mirror" and "summer", which connects the mirror-like clock face to the metaphorical mirror of introspection that nature provides in the world of the poem. In addition to his use of rhyming connections, Lowell brings together his thematically related images and ideas through the recurrence of certain motifs throughout the poem. These patterns find their common points in the shielding qualities and the circular and spherical images. The “bland, ambassadorial face of the moon” shares its shape with the face of the aquarium in the studio window that isolates the speaker from the outside world. The circular and spherical imagery expands to include the diver's "glass bell," which is connected in form and function as a protective barrier to the workshop window, the father's shield, and the swinging "nest of the oriole” at the end of the poem. The result of this thematic connection is a self-centered view of the world of the poem; the reader feels like they are seeing through the speaker's eyes as he freely associates all elements of his environment with the pervasive paranoia he feels. In this way, the poem feels personal and very specific and complete in its foreground depiction of the individual's apprehension of the possibility of nuclear war. The primary way in which this personal anxiety is projected through the poem's catalog of varied images is through discordant earthquakes. of poetic disturbance which reverberates on the thoughts of the speaker. The face of an alien orange moon reflected on the clock disrupts one of the sources of familiarity and comfort the speaker expects when he looks toward it. Metaphorically, this disruption of comfort extends to the political level throughconnotations evoked by the additional descriptions of the moon's reflection as "bland" and "ambassador". These descriptions metaphorically suggest that the greater political problem represented by the moon has been hidden behind a bland and insensitive face in the form of political discussion. The monotony of such discussion is summed up in the “tock, tock, tock” hum of the grandfather clock. Thus, the government's approach to the possibility of a nuclear strike is indirectly criticized as being an insufficient source of back-and-forth, and the previous comfort offered by high politics is thus removed as a source of reassurance for the 'individual. The disturbing lack of comfort in light of the ominous new nuclear threat culminates again on a political level in the third stanza: Our end draws near, The moon rises, Beaming with terror. The State, Is a diver under a glass bell. stanza, the comfort and protection offered by the state against a nuclear attack proves to be as inadequate as a transparent glass bell isolating the "terror" from the moonlight. Lowell restates this same sentiment elsewhere in the poem, in line 8: "we have spoken of our extinction unto death," a line which reminds the reader that, whatever the political jokes, the immense destructive potential of a nuclear threat is too great. perilous and unpredictable to denigrate. An additional disturbed image comes with the lines, "We are like many wild spiders crying together, but without tears". The most shocking element of this strange fallout shelter imagery is the bizarre idea of crying without tears. Through this idea, the lines metaphorically silence the audience's anxiety in a kind of disruptive stasis that casts fear into a silent role. Public silence thus alters the very purpose of fear by placing anxiety within individuals but not allowing them to share its burden with one another, again resulting in the removal of a source of comfort possible in the poem. the father's capacity to protect his child, which is reduced to insufficiency against the massive destruction of a nuclear attack. Another disruption of comfort arises from the phrase “A swallow makes a summer.” This reversal of proverbial wisdom disrupts the reader's expectations, thereby allowing the poet to declare that, under the looming threat of nuclear war, the truths that comfort us can be reversed and turned against their opposites - in this case, the detonation of a single nuclear warhead. could certainly lead to an entire nuclear summer. The completeness with which the world of the poem is disrupted shows how nuclear paranoia extends beyond the level of the poem's individual speaker. The upheaval of reality in the poem affects the whole of society by altering even the sources of comfort of the most fundamental and universal truths. Even the passing of time is perceived through a displaced and paradoxical perception as the agonizing “tock, tock, tock” of seconds continues indefinitely from stuck hands. Furthermore, the connection between the clock and the passage of months through the reflection of the moon and the setting of the poem in autumn suggest that this stopping of time extends upward into an entire era of paralyzed paranoia. The framing of individual experience against a society and This temporal period through metaphorical political criticism and universal connections is important in creating a complete picture of the nuclear threat in the fall of 1961. The poem demands that the bigger picture is at least loosely framed in order to create a real sense of the weight and scale behind the nuclear threat. the anxiety of the Cold War. At the end of.

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