Nemerov The Vacuum Summary

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Recommended: Literary devices in two kinds

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. …show more content…

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

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