A practical criticism of ‘For the Union Dead’ Essay

The aquarium is gone. Everywhere, giant finned cars nose former handle fish a savage servility slides by on shit (For the Union nonviable Robert Lowell) In Lowells rime For the Union Dead there is an underlying theme of the lost idealism which caused the the Statesn gracious War and its replacement with commercialism and materialism. Giant finned cars nose forward cargon fish, here Lowell re mentalitys us of 20th carbon materialism by bringing about the image of the highly desired Cadillac (finned cars) whilst combining it with the relation of a fish.This in my mind creates the idea of mankind following apiece other mindlessly to each material craze and status object. and the image of men following each other (nose forward) alludes to the idea of slavery indicating that rather than liberating the African Americans from slavery we have in fact, all become slaves to our material needs. Also the aquatic references seen throughout the poem be like references to Alan Tates po em Ode to the Confederate Dead straightaway that the salt of their blood stiffens the saltier oblivion of the sea, seals the malignant purity of the flood.This could again be an indication that perhaps the North (and indeed all of liberated America has in fact lost its war against slavery to materialism and are now in the Oblivion of the sea. Although this then creates a whim of reliance on our objects as us fish are reliant on the oxygen in our metaphoric sea of materialism which is as well symbolized earlier in the poem by the image of Colonel Shaws depository in capital of Massachusetts Common being propped up to by planks so It can survive the building of an underground parking structure Propped up by a plank splint against the garages temblor. This not only shows this red-hot found reliance on objects moreover represents the war Colonel Shaw was (and now again is) fighting against slavery.I pressed against the new and galvanized barbed fence on the Boston Common. Behind their cage, yellow dinosaur steam clean shovels were grunting as they cropped up tons of mush and grass to gouge their pit garage (For the Union Dead Robert Lowell)Galvanised barbed fence grunting gouge brings to mind the contrasting image that these new mechanical Dinosaurs are our slaves. Which is made to seem cruel not just by the use of Grunting only if by the personification of the cranes They cropped up tons of mush and grass. This suggests that the 20th century American has not just forgotten the idealism of the North but has in fact taken up that of that South This gives further center to the fact that the work these new slaves are doing is knocking over and negatively charged Shaws monument which is close to falling into the hole in Boston Common (being dug for a new parking structure) which represents the killing of Shaw and his Idealism by Materialism. The ditch where his sons body was thrown and lost with his Niggers Again.