The Wasps Nest free essay sample

After a thorough reading and analysis of the poem, I have found that there co-exists a number of underlying themes and contradicting meanings within the poem; I believe the most plausible and recurrent theory is that this poem revolves around the theme of significance, human nature and fear of a looming and impending threat. I have also seen that the themes, tone and meaning of the poem change throughout the poem. At first glance –in its starting lines, 1 to 24- the poem appears to be about nothing more major than the character’s disturbance at particular wasps which have chosen to make his US mailbox their nest. The poem then progresses, as do its continuously shifting tone and meaning. After identifying the situation of the wasps’ nest, the voice, at one point, seems to run into somewhat of a conflict where his usual instinct, moral judgment and human nature are locked in a power struggle of conflicting thoughts. As the poem then reaches its final lines, there begins an unraveling of deeper, more hidden themes. Written by James L Rosenberg, published in 1962, The Wasps Nest can be taken under many different annotations depending on one’s view, throughout my analysis I have tried to convey as many possible –plausible- ideologies as to the poem’s individual and/or co-operative elements whether contradicting, coinciding or emphasizing in relation towards each other. One could note that the real significance of the poem is hidden within the last seven lines of the thirty-one. Prior to the last seven lines; the complete tone and purpose of the poem shifts from the theme of a menial nuisance/ minor disturbance into questions about controversial thought of the significance of existence. Rosenberg starts line 1 in a majestic description which refers towards particular wasps which have inhabited his mailbox. Although his description is praising towards the wasps, his first sign of the acknowledgement of their existence as living creatures; the first sign of evidence as to this can be seen in line 9; ‘Their insubstantial and their only home’ In saying this, Rosenberg, for the first time, gives the wasps’ existence a certain sense of importance, by , in a way, personifying the wasps in referring to their nests as a ‘home’ rather than a nest. This gives a rather synonymous connotation towards the feeling of humanity, thusly personifying the wasps with more of an equal human importance. Rosenberg continues this effect in several other lines throughout the poem despite its shifting themes and tones. Evidence of this can be seen in the following lines- 24 to 26-: ‘Perhaps, they sense, I’ll never deal the blow’ These two lines show clear implications made by Rosenberg to give the wasps more acknowledgement by giving them a sense of human judgment and intelligence. The same effect can be seen in lines 21-24: ‘And yet they seem Too deeply and too fiercely occupied To bother to attend. ’ The fact that Rosenberg grants the wasps a sense of judgment in such a way that they noticed a potential threat and are too busy to attend to it. The mere fact that the author granted them with the thought that they could protect themselves adds emphasis towards my previous statement of the theme of acknowledgement. In lines 15-25, one can note somewhat of a conflict which appears where the voice questions his natural instincts to destroy the wasps nest (for the purpose of disposing of a nuisance and potential danger) with moral judgment and a deeper sense of human nature/emotion: ‘And I think They know my strength, Can gauge The danger of their work: One blow could crush them And their nest; and I am not their friend. And yet they seem Too deeply and too fiercely occupied To bother to attend. Perhaps they sense I’ll never deal the blow,’ Now the change in tone and meaning can be noted clearly. From monitoring the placement of these wasps and where they have decided to inconveniently locate their home to a comparison between their world and ours and the frailty of both of them that we share. In these lines, the author seems to relate and create somewhat of a likeness between our two worlds: whilst the wasps’ nest is depicted as small and fragile, the author motioned a thought that in this universe, so is ours. Whilst the wasps’ nest is depicted as small and fragile, Rosenberg motions a thought that in a universe so large, everything could be just as small and fragile. He bridged and related our world to the wasps’, Introducing the likeness that we are all small beings in universe so large, and if he delivers a crushing blow to their home, is there not just as likely a possibility that something even larger crush ours, just as easily? That our society could be an even larger force’s wasps’ nest? It is according to my understanding and analysis that there is not enough evidence to say as to whom the main character/voice of the poem is. We can see that it is written in first person narrative, but this provides no nsight towards the actual identity of this voice in the poem. The setting of the poem is implied –from lines 9 to 10- to be in the USA: ‘Neither the sore displeasure Of the US Mail’ Further implications as to the setting of the poem appear to be rather vague, although I imagined it to be set in a typical American suburban home as the man creates the thoughts noted in the poem, he is staring at his mai lbox, he is contemplating the fragility of his existence. The poem generally, although rather complex as a whole, does not contain many words which hold difficult and complex meaning. The meanings and connotations of the words are rather obvious in accordance to its noted denotations. The poem seems to be written in a style of free verse, this can be proven due to the fact that it is one body of writing; there are no stanzas. The length of the sentences vary from being long to short in a seemingly random order, and can thusly be justified as to coinciding with the poems theme in the way that the erratic sentence structure imitates the energetic aerials of the wasps. The further enjambment and caesuras spread throughout the poem could, in a way, emphasize a motion of streamlined thought, in the poem. It can be said that it is written as though one movement of developing thought streamlining from beginning to end of the poem. I conclude that after further analysis of the poem, my ideologies and theories as to the theme, tone and other factors which I have noted remain the same. I still believe that the boldest theme depicted is the theme of questioning significance and where ours stands in the universe.