Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Accident" by Norman Dubie is a hauntingly vivid poem that encapsulates a moment of tragedy and surreal revelation through tightly wound imagery and narrative suspense. The poem pivots around a catastrophic event—a collision between a train and a truck—while weaving elements that transcend the immediate physicality of the accident, touching on themes of loss, alienation, and the shock of the unforeseen.

The opening lines immediately place the reader in a charged setting: a man stands in a "green stand of corn" watching the approach of a train. The imagery here is lush and vibrant, yet there is an ominous undertone, as the light of the train diminishes to "just a white dot" on the stalled truck's cab. This stark visual transformation—from a bright, approaching light to a distant, small dot—mirrors the rapid narrowing of possibilities as the train nears the truck where the man’s daughter is trapped, struggling with the gears. The description of her with her "foot off the clutch, fought gears" adds a frantic, desperate note, heightening the tension.

Dubie's use of "the milk of field corn everywhere" is particularly evocative, suggesting both the abundance of the field and a sudden, violent spilling—akin to blood in its symbolism—painting a picture of intrusion and rupture. The father’s reaction, falling back into the "brittle stalks," conveys his shock and helplessness, the physical action mirroring his emotional collapse.

As the scene unfolds into the aftermath of the crash, the night brings not peace but further disturbance. An "acetylene torch sputtered" and the natural soundscape, previously alive with the "cicadas up in the cottonwoods," is abruptly silenced. This silence is not just a cessation of noise but a poignant symbol of life halted abruptly, a common motif in depictions of disaster where the natural world reacts or contrasts starkly with human calamity.

The entrance of the "red caboose" mowing down the corn and stopping just short of the man introduces a surreal, almost nightmarish quality to the poem. The train, both a literal and symbolic force, cuts through life (the corn) and stops just short of taking another (the man's). The arrival of "Two men in overalls with a lantern" could, in another context, suggest rescue or at least assistance. However, Dubie twists this expectation by describing the men as if they were "from Mars," alien and unrelatable, speaking "in the one tongue of the blasted cattle cars," a line that conjures images of historical tragedies and mass suffering.

This alien communication and the references to "dying animals strewn out behind them" serve to amplify the sense of devastation and the incomprehensible nature of disaster. The cries of animals become a universal language of pain and fear, merging the man’s personal tragedy with larger, more existential themes of suffering and the human condition.

In "Accident," Dubie masterfully combines narrative clarity with symbolic density, crafting a poem that resonates on both an immediate, emotional level and a more reflective, thematic one. Through precise imagery and a shifting tone from pastoral calm to horrific intrusion, Dubie explores the fragility of human life and the profound, often bewildering impact of sudden loss. The poem leaves the reader with a sense of unresolved tension and haunting imagery, emblematic of the way traumatic events linger in the psyche long after they have occurred.

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