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Auto Wreck Critical Analysis


            Death is tragic and influences powerful emotions in people. In the poem "Auto Wreck" by Karl Shapiro, he conveys the unpredictability and grimness of death while probing for a deeper meaning of it within himself as well. Shapiro's usage of imagery in conjunction with figurative language is a key element in getting the theme of death across to the reader.
             Shapiro wants his readers to vividly picture the accident as if he/she was there to see it. He uses profound imagery words and phrases to do so. "Stretchers are laid out, the mangled lifted / And stowed into the little hospital" (9-10). The reader can easily and distinctly visualize the injured people being placed onto the stretchers and loaded into the back of ambulance, a scene that many are familiar with through television and movies. He also writes, "The doors leap open, emptying light" (8). Here, logic reasons that Shapiro tries to convey a sense of hope to both himself and the reader. The light implies a celestial body or safe haven where life can be restored. .
             Through the use of metaphors and similes, Shapiro is able to swing the mood of the poem into a dark, pessimistic view of death. In the line, "Pulsing out red light like an artery" (3), the author references to a strong, beating heart, and subsequently life. This life starts to seem fragile a few lines later, "And stowed into the little hospital" (10). This metaphor gives rise to the idea that life is delicate and death may only be around the block. Reading deeper, one can find, "Our throats were tight as tourniquets" (22), to be an indication of the decreasing morale of the bystanders and Shapiro as well. It is at this point when the shock of the wreck is starting to set in and his mood becomes distinctly pessimistic and fearful.
             In the last stanza, Shapiro uses personification to solidify the horror and irrationality of death. In the lines:.
             For death in war is done by hands; .


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