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