Banjo
Banjo - meaning Summary
Haunting, Persistent Symbol
The poem presents a simple, repetitive meditation on an ominous image: a broken banjo floating on a polluted sea. The narrator treats this object as a personal obsession and threat, alternately hunted by it and obliged to understand it. Its ambiguity—whether wash-up from life or grave—suggests unresolved loss, guilt, or memory. The persistent refrain reinforces the inescapable, cyclical quality of the speaker's attention and dread.
Read Complete AnalysesThere's something that I'm watching Means a lot to me. It's a broken banjo bobbing On the dark infested sea Don't know how it got there Maybe taken by the wave Off of someone's shoulder Or out of someone's grave It's coming for me darling No matter where I go Its duty is to harm me My duty is to know There's something that I'm watching Means a lot to me It's a broken banjo bobbing On the dark infested sea
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