| Auto Wreck Its quick soft silver bell beating, beating, And down the dark one ruby flare Pulsing out red light like an artery, The ambulance at top speed floating down Past beacons and illuminated clocks Wings in a heavy curve, dips down, And brakes speed, entering the crowd. The doors leap open, emptying light; Stretchers are laid out, the mangled lifted And stowed into the little hospital. Then the bell, breaking the hush, tolls once, And the ambulance with its terrible cargo Rocking, slightly rocking, moves away, As the doors, and afterthought, are closed. We are deranged, walking among the cops Who sweep glass and are large and composed. One is still making notes under the light. One with a bucket douches ponds of blood Into the street and gutter. One hangs lanterns on the wrecks that clings, Empty husks of locust, to iron poles. Our throats were tight as tourniquets, Our feet were bound with splints, but now, Like convalescents intimate and gauche, 1 We speak through sickly smiles and warn With the stubborn saw of common sense, The grim joke and the banal 2 resolution. The traffic moves around with care, But we remain, touching a wound That opens to our richest horror. Already old, the question Who shall die? Becomes unspoken who is innocent? For death in war is done by hands; Suicide has cause and stillbirth, logic; And cancer, simple as a flower, blooms. But this invites the occult 3 mind, Cancels our physics with a sneer, And spatters all we knew of denouement 4 Across the expedient and wicked stones. |
| Summarize by stanza 1. This stanza reveals the accident scene. It emphasizes that it is occurring on a quiet day. Police are taking notes about the accident scene. 2. Questions like "Why did the man get hit?" fly across the page. Rhyme/ Diction/ Tone There is no rhyme in this poem. The diction the author shows is seeing the crime scene and hearing the ambulance coming down the street. The tone the author shows is one of curiosity. The author is interested in the well-being of people. Imagery "Soft silver bell beating, beating,"- auditory; "One with a bucket douches ponds of blood"- visual; "Our feet were bound with splints"- visual; "opens to our richest horror"- visual. Metaphors "The doors leap open, emptying light"; "ambulance at top speed floating down"; "Wings in a heavy curve"; "Our throats were tight as tourniquets,"; "We speak through sickly smiles". Sound Devices Alliteration- "soft silver bell beating, beating,"; "throats were tight as tourniquets"; Connotation- "ruby flare". Assonance-"Rocking, slightly rocking"; "We speak through sickly smiles". Cacophony - mangled, terrible, deranged, blood, gutter, locust, splints, saw, grim, stubborn, sickly, wound, horror, death, war, stillbirth, cancer, occult, sneer, spatters wicked. Euphony - soft, silver, bell, beacons, illuminated, light, lanterns, logic, flower, blooms Theme People are aware of death. Suicide and war ways of dying but why car accidents |