Nemerov The Vacuum Summary

A vacuum cleaner is a device that uses an air pump to suck up dirt into a dust bag for later disposal. In Howard Nemerov's "The Vacuum," a widowed husband mourns the death of his wife while he observes their vacuum in his quiet house. As he studies the vacuum he notices it "sulks in the corner closet" (line 2). His observation sets the tone for the poem and personifying the household device. As he continues to personify the vacuum throughout the poem, he notes the lifelessness of the vacuum, memories of his wife using the vacuum, and how "life is cheap as dirt" (line 13) but dirt is still everywhere even when she is gone. The speaker in "The Vacuum," uses the vacuum cleaner to symbolize his wife's death, the connection to his wife, and how he perceives his life after her death.

In the first stanza, the mourning husband observes the vacuum in the corner, comparing the lifelessness of the vacuum cleaner to his wife's death.

As "The vacuum cleaner sulks in the corner closet" (line 2) of the quiet house, his personification not only sets the tone of the poem and acts as a parallel to his emotions but also symbolizes the passing of his wife. When the speaker states "Its bag limp as a stopped lung" (line 3), he personifies the vacuum cleaner's bag as a lung, a vital organ in the human body. By comparing the dust bag of the vacuum cleaner to a human lung, the speaker is also offering insight into a probable cause of his wife's death. The lifelessness of the vacuum cleaner sulking in the corner with the limp dust bag represents the death of the speaker's

wife.
In addition to the vacuum cleaner representing his wife's physical death, the vacuum acts as a symbol for the speaker's memories of his wife. When the speaker states that "when my old woman died her soul / Went into that vacuum cleaner" (line 7-8) he is associating not only the vacuum to his wife but also insight into the connection he has to her. He remembers how she used "to crawl, in the corner and in the stair" (line 12). Now that she has passed away he "can't bear / to see the bag swell like a belly, eating the dust" (line 8-9); therefore, when he sees the vacuum cleaner he is reminded not only of her death but also the memories he has of her. The association with his wife and vacuum cleaner stem from his wife's constant cleaning.
Finally, the vacuum cleaner represents the speaker's perception of his life now that his wife has passed. He is made aware of the brevity of his life when he spots the mouth of the vacuum "grinning into the floor, maybe at my / Slovenly life, my dog-dead youth" (lines 4-5). Even after his wife's death, when he takes notice that there is "old filth everywhere" (line 11) he is observing that even with his wife gone, dirt continues to accumulate, and life is moving on. Although he cannot bear to see the bag of the vacuum "swell like a belly, eating the dust" (line 9), he acknowledges that the vacuum cleaner will still perform its duties even without her there to use. Despite seeing how life around him is moving on, he comes to the conclusion now "how life is cheap as dirt" (line 13). The dirt his wife used to eliminate by vacuuming is now worth just as much as life itself! With his wife gone, the speaker believes that now life is meaningless. As the "hungry, angry heart" (line 14) of the vacuum cleaner "hangs on and howls, biting at air" (line 15), the personification of the vacuum creates a metaphor for how he feels about life after the loss of his life.