Fish
Fish are all over this poem. They start at the aquarium and make their way to the very last stanza. Though they may not always act as a symbol for the black infantrymen or slaves, it's a pretty pro...
The Underworld
This poem gets a little spooky on us from time to time. We see different versions of the underworld throughout the poem: the dark and mysterious underwater underworld of the old aquarium, the under...
Fragility
So much of the poem is made up of imagery of things either falling apart or things that have already fallen apart. Nothing seems quite strong enough to stand the test of time. It looks like just ab...
Unlikely Pairs
Lowell is on a roll in the beginning of the poem, describing things by pairing them with their opposites. He starts us off with this "up is down" type of description to prepare us for the jumping a...