When Life
When Life - meaning Summary
Survival Within Brutal Confinement
The poem presents a stark portrait of life inside prison: pervasive filth, violence, and routine death observed by indifferent guards. It shows how inmates survive psychological collapse by numbing themselves, adopting a vacant stare and clinging to a faint, half-dead dream. The tone is bleak and resigned, emphasizing dehumanization and the slim, fragile hope that allows people to endure brutal conditions. The speaker’s voice implies lived knowledge of incarceration.
Read Complete AnalysesIs cut close, blades and bones, And the stench of sewers is everywhere, Blood-sloshed floors, And guards count the dead With the blink of an eyelid, then hurry home To supper and love, what saves us From going mad is to carry a vacant stare And a quiet half-dead dream.
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