Week One Essay Essays

Week One Essay Essays Week One Essay Essay Week One Essay Essay â€Å"Five O’Clock Shadow† – Week One Poem Explication In Sir John Betjeman’s poem â€Å"Five O’Clock Shadow,† the idea that the shadow of death physically and emotionally isolates and enervates those who dwell within it is conveyed through the utilization of metaphor and carefully selected words and phrases in the development of a tone and tonal shift, in addition to imagery. The title of the poem is the major metaphor of the piece; after the identification of who the speaker is (a dying man), the title means much more than the stubble of beard so-called â€Å"five o’clock shadow. The wording of several phrases aids in the development of a detached tone where the speaker does not speak in the first person singular; this tone then shifts in the last line to be much more dismal, with the first and only occurrence of an â€Å"I† from the speaker’s perspective. The development of imagery is largely i ntertwined with the development of tone: when there is an apathetic or detached tone, the imagery is seemingly apathetic as well. There is a metaphorical meaning to the title of the piece: when the shadow of death passes over those who are dying (which is at five o’clock for the speaker). The shadow of death is characterized by the feelings this man feels at a certain time of day: he feels that he can no longer suffer through the physical pain, struggling with inevitable death; he feels weaker, and that he â€Å"can struggle less strongly† (3); he feels betrayed by those who are supposed to support him in his final days; he feels a â€Å"lonely terror† (16) only intensify. At this time of day, he feels his emotional and physical pain most acutely, as the solitude presses in on him. He recognizes that his isolation and misery become unbearable then, and that the shadow enveloping him is that of death, severing him emotionally from those around him. This shadow falls on him, and he feels just enough more isolated to push him closer to giving up. The propinquity of death weakens him, and so he detaches from his self in order to numb the pain for as long as possible. The tone of the speaker develops the theme of the poem by conveying how these moribund men (specifically the speaker) feel about their final days being lived in isolation and pain. The roundabout wording of phrases such as, â€Å"When he who struggles can struggle less strongly†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (3) relates a feeling of detachment from the self that the speaker experiences. Other indications of this detachment are the occurrences of â€Å"we† instead of the speaker speaking from his own perspective and vague descriptions of the happenings around him: â€Å"A haze of thunder hangs on the hospital rose-beds/ A doctor’s foursome out of the links is played† (5-6). The tone of these verses is that of apathy; he is indifferent about and isolated from the world that is just outside of his self; if he were actually a part of his self at that time, he might just give up due to the agony of being isolated so completely from everything and everyone. The imagery of this composition follows along in mood with the tone; where the tone is apathetic and detached, the imagery is that of indifferent surveillance: he watches men (including his self) struggle less against the pain, resign, ruefully, to death, and suffer emotional isolation and lonely terror. He looks on as nonempathic people surround him and ignore his pain: the doctors, who are completing their rounds, do not try to rescue him from the terrible isolation his terminal condition has left him in; the nurse/nun/Sister is disregarding her patients’ emotional and physical suffering, and instead is â€Å"safe in her sitting room†¦ [and] is putting her feet up† (7); and the â€Å"loving relations† (9) only come to visit physically, yet remain emotionally distant, and who think â€Å"’Well, we’ve done what we can. It can’t be long til the end’† (12). This imagery creates a depressing mood and evokes an emotional response, due to the isolation that it conveys; the speaker is in emotional and physical misery, and yet no one even attempts to attenuate his suffering by connecting with him, bringing him out of the dark of the shadow. The emotion that the isolation evokes establishes abhorrence in the reader toward the idea that a quiet, â€Å"peaceful† death on a hospital bed is the most desirable way to pass on; instead, the dreadful isolation and detachment establish the idea that a slow death, while cut off emotionally from others, is one of the most terrible fates imaginable. This is one of the most depressing poems that I have ever read; the depiction of emotional isolation in the poem has changed how I view isolation. I have never given a thought to how emotionally cut off people in nursing homes or their sick beds must be before; I did know that they would be lonely, but I never thought how deep that lonesomeness could cut. This poem gave me a new perspective on how devastating isolation can be, in someone who may not even seem that isolated at first (with other patients around, doctors checking up on them, nurses â€Å"watching† over them, and family members coming to visit).