The Desert
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The human heart not only supplies life but it also represents feelings and emotions. In the Desert uses intense imagery to paint a vivid picture while also using point of view and symbolism to send a message about human emotion and feelings. Although this poem is brief it contains a very powerful point about the human heart and emotions.
This poem appears to be written by a person that has just lost a loved one, although this poem does not seem to be about death. The poem opens with the image of a “naked” beast alone in a “desert”. This paints an interesting image in the mind of the reader, but it also has a deeper meaning. This “beast” of a man was deserted and left alone by someone that he was obviously deeply in love with. He has lost all direction and purpose in his life. The author uses the point of view of the speaker to show just how pathetic this creature is. The speaker feels bad for the beast and attempts to speak to it, seemingly out of pity. He even calls the hopeless animal his “friend”. This leads me to believe that maybe the creature is just an extension of the speaker, the part of him that cannot let go of an important love.
In the Desert is a poem that is symbolic of the way people react when their “hearts are broken”. The heart, in this instance, represents love and happiness. When the man loses this love he feels as though his heart has been wrenched from his chest and devoured by a monster (that represents his current emotional state). The man is broken, battered and left to fend for himself. He is also filled with resentment and anger as is made evident by his “bitter-bitter” heart. This whole scenario represents the dependence of man on the love of another and his state of total denial and sadness when it is taken from him. The only beam of hope that I could find in this poem is when the man says that he likes his heart despite its bitterness. This is the authors way of saying that love hurts but in time wounds will heal and maybe the “beast” will be able to love again.
The author of this poem tells the story of a man who loses love and is left with a huge void in his heart. Although it appears to be the story of a man taking pity on another less fortunate then he is, this poem is really about a persons struggle to cope with the loss of a lover.