Summary Of The Vacuum By Howard Nemerov

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The death of a loved one can often cause a stillness in time. In his poem “The Vacuum,” Howard Nemerov uses a variety of poetic devices in order to portray a husband’s struggle to cope with his wife’s death. Through the use of symbolism, the speaker is able to portray a common household item, a vacuum, as being a physical reminder of his dead wife. The speaker, a widower, also personifies the vacuum and his heart in order to express his sorrow. The poem uses symbolism and personification in order to show how death seems to stop the passage of time.

The speaker uses the vacuum as a symbol throughout the poem. In the beginning, the vacuum is an object used for cleaning the house. The speaker says, “The house is so quiet now / The vacuum cleaner

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