Disaster - “Against Disaster”
The speaker’s confession about, “All random, wasted, and dispersed,/The particles of being lie;/My special heaven is reversed,/I move beneath an evil sky” hints at a life-altering catastrophe that has obstructed all facets of the speaker’s life. The sentiment of wastefulness and dispersal indicate that the speaker is disturbed psychologically due to the unsolved misfortune. The turn-around of the speaker’s heaven insinuates that the speaker’s prevailing circumstance is problematical.
Auctioning - “The Auction”
Beholding the auctioning of one’s chattels can be a grueling incident. Theodore Roethke recalls, “ The spell ran on; the sale was brief and brisk;/ the bargains fell to bidders, one by one. Hope flushed my cheekbone with a scarlet disk. Old neighbours nudged each other at the fun./My spirits rose each time the hammer fell.” The speaker was stranded and mortified. He would not sojourn the auction process based on the tumbling hammer which designated that the bid had been resolved. Furthermore, the neighbors’ reactions degraded the speaker even more. Arguably, the speaker was tolerating financial complications that stalled him/ her from recompensing liabilities that had been indemnified using the ‘choice possessions.’
Malicious Gossip - “The Gossips”
Gossip impacts the targets unfavorably. Theodore Roethke wonders, “ Whatever could this bumbling man have done/That these cold venomous eyes should merge as one,/Freeze and transfix him like an evil sun?” The gossiper’s coldness manifest in their eyes. The gossipers are impervious to the repercussions of their maltreatment of the old man. The term ‘transfix’ conjectures that rife gossip anguishes the victims because such gossips are embroidered to depict the victims as malevolent beings.
