Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Dorianne Laux’s “Fear” is a searing exploration of childhood anxieties, presenting a litany of dread that captures the fragile and hyper-aware state of growing up in a world fraught with danger, both real and imagined. The poem?s relentless pace and accumulation of details evoke the visceral intensity of fear as it permeates the consciousness of the speaker, shaped by a precarious environment and a relentless sense of vulnerability.

The poem begins with a sweeping acknowledgment of the omnipresence of fear: “We were afraid of everything.” This opening statement serves as both an admission and an invocation, preparing the reader for the exhaustive catalog of terrors that follows. The fears are diverse, spanning natural disasters like earthquakes and fires to human threats, such as “strangers” and the “Claymore girls,” whose intimidating presence and concealed “razor blades” make them emblematic of an environment teeming with menace. The specificity of these fears grounds the poem in a tangible reality, while their sheer variety underscores the chaotic and unpredictable nature of childhood experience.

Laux employs a cascading structure, with lines tumbling into one another as the fears pile up, creating a relentless rhythm that mirrors the overwhelming nature of anxiety. The imagery is vivid and unflinching, from the “tent full of boys two blocks over” to the “wheelbarrow crammed / with dirty magazines, beer cans, spit-laced butts.” These details capture both the allure and the danger of forbidden spaces, illustrating how fear coexists with curiosity in the process of growing up. The juxtaposition of everyday objects with sinister undertones—“abandoned cars,” “screen doors slammed / by angry mothers,” and “loose brakes on the handlebar of our bikes”—reinforces the sense that danger lurks in the mundane.

Throughout the poem, Laux skillfully intertwines external threats with internalized fears. The children are haunted by societal pressures and personal insecurities, fearing poverty, invisibility, and failure. The “nuclear dust we were told to wipe / from lids before we opened them in the kitchen” connects the personal sphere of the home with the broader existential threat of nuclear war, illustrating how even the most intimate spaces are infiltrated by collective anxieties. The reference to “Original Sin” and the “crematorium” adds a moral and spiritual dimension to the fears, suggesting a profound and inherited sense of guilt and mortality.

The second half of the poem delves deeper into the physical and psychological effects of fear, describing how it “whipped through our bodies like fire or sleet.” This simile captures both the burning immediacy and the cold, paralyzing aspects of fear. The imagery becomes increasingly fragmented and surreal, reflecting the chaotic and disorienting nature of childhood memories. The “coiled bedsprings of the sister’s / top bunk” and the “cousin in the next room / tapping on the wall” hint at intimate, possibly traumatic experiences, while the “rusty / grass” and “train tracks” evoke a desolate and unforgiving landscape.

Laux’s use of repetition and parallel structure enhances the poem’s hypnotic quality, drawing the reader into the relentless cycle of fear. The repeated invocation of “we were afraid” emphasizes the collective nature of the experience, suggesting that fear is both a shared burden and a defining feature of the speaker’s community. The accumulation of fears culminates in the powerful final image of the “crumbling edge of the continent we stood on, / waiting to be saved, the endless, wind-driven waves.” This closing metaphor encapsulates the precariousness and isolation of childhood, portraying the children as small and powerless against the vast and indifferent forces of the world.

“Fear” is a masterful meditation on the formative power of anxiety, capturing the ways in which childhood fears shape our understanding of the world and ourselves. Laux’s detailed and unflinching portrayal of fear reveals its dual nature as both a protective instinct and a source of profound vulnerability. Through its vivid imagery and relentless rhythm, the poem immerses the reader in the raw and unfiltered experience of growing up in a world that is as terrifying as it is wondrous.

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