The Vacuum

Words: 1224
Pages: 5

Howard Nemerov’s poem “The Vacuum” insinuates a great deal of internal conflict. The theme of this poem is grief. This grief that the speaker experiences causes much of his internal conflict. Though, as the poem progresses there is a theme of pointlessness that is buried deeper inside the poem. Two metaphors that are seen throughout the entire poem is this relationship between a house and a vacuum with a widower and his deceased wife. The lines that suggest this metaphorical relationship between the speaker’s wife and a vacuum cleaner is seen in the second stanza when he says, “but when my old woman died her soul went into that vacuum cleaner,” (Nemerov,7-8). That is noticeably figurative speech because it is impossible for his wife’s soul to literally transport into the vacuum cleaner. In addition to the seventh line, the speaker labels the vacuum as “she” in the last stanza of the poem. …show more content…
It exposes a gloomy emotion to the reader. “The vacuum cleaner sulks in the corner closet,” (Nemerov,2) suggests that the vacuum, or the speaker’s wife, is hidden away or untouchable. There is a feeling of uselessness is briefly shown in the next line in the simile “its bag limp as a stopped lung,” (Nemerov,3). Lungs are vital organs in the human body. A “stopped lung”, though, is unserviceable just as the vacuum bag, or his late wife. He uses another comparison of the vacuum bag later in the poem. “To see the bag swell, like a belly, eating the dust and the woolen mice, and begin to howl,” (Nemerov,9-10). Those lines are nearly opposite to the third line in the poem. Lines nine and ten illustrate sensual imagery to both the visual and aural senses. It describes a vacuum that is in use, rather than “limp” in the third line. Metaphorically speaking, it suggests his wife as lively, or loud instead of lifeless. He acts, though, as if he cannot stand to see the vacuum in use, or metaphorically speaking, his wife