Dead Stars Essay Questions

Why does the comment in lines 9-10 break the romance of the moment? What is the significance of all the constellations that the speaker has forgotten?

The constellations listed in stanza five signify all the aspects of the broader world that we tend to forget when we are so focused on our immediate circumstances. The speaker is able to see the beauty and romance in the simplicity of standing at the curb with her husband and their recycling bins, looking up at Orion, but her husband expresses a desire to know more beyond this tiny snippet of knowledge. This serves as the pivotal turning point of the poem, because it prompts the speaker to think more about the ways in which we (as humans) could be bigger and more spectacular than we currently are, if we chose to "survive more" and "love harder." The husband's comment provokes a moment of self-reflection that ultimately leads to the ambitious and inspiring ideas in the second half of the poem.