Explication of Raymond Carver's "Fear":
Fear by Raymond Carver
The poem “Fear” by Raymond Carver shows how in life we have more fears than securities. By this he means that in life we are afraid of more things than
things we feel safe and unthreatened from. This poem is told from the point of view of a parent talking about the many fears that occurs about one’s child.
However the fears that he talks about are fears that anyone have. In the poem it says: “Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night”, and “Fear of seeing a police car pull into the driveway” These lines help show the fear that runs through each parent’s mind when their child is out at night, driving back from an event, or living far away from them. The line “Fear of my children’s handwriting on envelopes” helps show the fear of their child living far from them and talking to them by sending mail instead of visiting on the weekend. In this poem there are also some small fears like “Fear of not falling asleep” and “Fear of having to live with my mother in her old age, and mine”.
Raymond Carver was married twice and has two children. This poem is one that he has experienced. He had many fears each day about his future and
his children’s future. Raymond Carver’s life was hard on him and with this poem the reader can see that he had more fears than securities in his life. This
poem is structure as a list. By having a list poem the reader can see that he is pointing something out and is saying “hey look at this.” With this poem he is
pointing out the fears that parents have. He does this by having each line start by saying “fear of...” except for three lines. A list poem also has a beginning
and end. In this poem the beginning is seeing the police car in your driveway and the end is death. His poem also creates a parallel structure by being in a list. It has more than one sentence which has the same beginning and sentence structure. He mentions the fear of death twice to show how big of a fear it is to him. He does this because death is the end of the poem. He is putting emphasis on the fact that once you die it is the end of life and if a child dies it is the end of their parent’s life. He helps show its importance by making the second time he mentions it, the only stanza break to separate it from the rest of the poem. This is done because death is the biggest and scariest fear he has. All the other fears he mentions are equally scary whereas the fear of death is something that terrifies him. This is why he mentions the fear of death twice and gives it the only line break because it shows the different level of fear from the rest of fears.
The poem ends every line with a period. I feel he uses this punctuation to indicate that after each line there is a pause. This does affect the rhythm of the poem; however, I think the length of his lines helps bring rhythm back. The lines of this poem have a pattern and that is that they go from a long line to a short one. By adding the shorter lines he is speeding up the pace of the poem and then slowing it down by having a longer line. An example of this is when he states:
Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night. (Long sentence)
Fear of electrical storms. (Short sentence)
Fear of the cleaning woman who has a spot on her cheek! (Long sentence)
This type of sentence pattern is shown throughout the poem. The last two lines are short lines so they have impact and get right to the point of the message.
Raymond Carver uses metaphors in this poem and they are not meant to be a literal meaning. For example, the fear of dogs when one has been told they won’t bite means his distrust of someone. We can see this because we always think we can trust someone till they “stab us in the back,” or bite like a dog.
There are no abstractions in this poem. Though each line does state that it is a fear he doesn’t just leave it at that he describes what the fear is. For
example he says:
Fear of having to identify the body of a dead friend.
Fear of running out of money.
He doesn’t just say “he has a fear,” he states what the fear is like. The fear of identifying a dead friend is different than the fear of running out of money. With each line he is describing what the fear is. This poem also has individuality because he talks about the fears that relate to him. Even though anyone can be afraid of these things, he as a parent can relate to the fears he is writing about.
This poem has a lot of imagery. Each time he mentions a fear it is descriptive and allows us as the reader to picture it. . He shows a lot of imagery and doesn’t say this is a fear because he or she is afraid of this. Lines that I feel have great imagery are “Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night,” “Fear of having to identify the body of a dead friend,” and “Fear of waking up to find you gone.” It’s great imagery because he doesn’t just say “fear of getting a phone call at night,” or “fear of losing a friend,” he makes the fear more in-depth by including in the dead of night and identifying the body. This type of
imagery creates a picture in the readers head as if it was a piece of art. I feel that all the images he uses can be made into art and that everyone will have their own way of creating it.
I believe that the goal of this poem it to show all the fears that people go through, especially peoples parents. Raymond Carver is trying to show that there are so many fears in life but these fears shouldn’t hold you back. We can see this because he starts off talking about everyday fears and then talks about the fear of death. It is as if he goes through all the different fears in life until we die. This poem does a great job at having this come across to the readers. By listing each fear he is making it look like he is going step by step, listing one fear at a time. He also does a great job at showing how the last fear a person has
is death by repeating it twice and by making it the one and only stanza break. Fear is something that everyone has and everyone is afraid of different things.
Raymond Carver does a great job showing us fears that relate not only to us as the reader, but also fears that he has.
The poem “Fear” by Raymond Carver shows how in life we have more fears than securities. By this he means that in life we are afraid of more things than
things we feel safe and unthreatened from. This poem is told from the point of view of a parent talking about the many fears that occurs about one’s child.
However the fears that he talks about are fears that anyone have. In the poem it says: “Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night”, and “Fear of seeing a police car pull into the driveway” These lines help show the fear that runs through each parent’s mind when their child is out at night, driving back from an event, or living far away from them. The line “Fear of my children’s handwriting on envelopes” helps show the fear of their child living far from them and talking to them by sending mail instead of visiting on the weekend. In this poem there are also some small fears like “Fear of not falling asleep” and “Fear of having to live with my mother in her old age, and mine”.
Raymond Carver was married twice and has two children. This poem is one that he has experienced. He had many fears each day about his future and
his children’s future. Raymond Carver’s life was hard on him and with this poem the reader can see that he had more fears than securities in his life. This
poem is structure as a list. By having a list poem the reader can see that he is pointing something out and is saying “hey look at this.” With this poem he is
pointing out the fears that parents have. He does this by having each line start by saying “fear of...” except for three lines. A list poem also has a beginning
and end. In this poem the beginning is seeing the police car in your driveway and the end is death. His poem also creates a parallel structure by being in a list. It has more than one sentence which has the same beginning and sentence structure. He mentions the fear of death twice to show how big of a fear it is to him. He does this because death is the end of the poem. He is putting emphasis on the fact that once you die it is the end of life and if a child dies it is the end of their parent’s life. He helps show its importance by making the second time he mentions it, the only stanza break to separate it from the rest of the poem. This is done because death is the biggest and scariest fear he has. All the other fears he mentions are equally scary whereas the fear of death is something that terrifies him. This is why he mentions the fear of death twice and gives it the only line break because it shows the different level of fear from the rest of fears.
The poem ends every line with a period. I feel he uses this punctuation to indicate that after each line there is a pause. This does affect the rhythm of the poem; however, I think the length of his lines helps bring rhythm back. The lines of this poem have a pattern and that is that they go from a long line to a short one. By adding the shorter lines he is speeding up the pace of the poem and then slowing it down by having a longer line. An example of this is when he states:
Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night. (Long sentence)
Fear of electrical storms. (Short sentence)
Fear of the cleaning woman who has a spot on her cheek! (Long sentence)
This type of sentence pattern is shown throughout the poem. The last two lines are short lines so they have impact and get right to the point of the message.
Raymond Carver uses metaphors in this poem and they are not meant to be a literal meaning. For example, the fear of dogs when one has been told they won’t bite means his distrust of someone. We can see this because we always think we can trust someone till they “stab us in the back,” or bite like a dog.
There are no abstractions in this poem. Though each line does state that it is a fear he doesn’t just leave it at that he describes what the fear is. For
example he says:
Fear of having to identify the body of a dead friend.
Fear of running out of money.
He doesn’t just say “he has a fear,” he states what the fear is like. The fear of identifying a dead friend is different than the fear of running out of money. With each line he is describing what the fear is. This poem also has individuality because he talks about the fears that relate to him. Even though anyone can be afraid of these things, he as a parent can relate to the fears he is writing about.
This poem has a lot of imagery. Each time he mentions a fear it is descriptive and allows us as the reader to picture it. . He shows a lot of imagery and doesn’t say this is a fear because he or she is afraid of this. Lines that I feel have great imagery are “Fear of the telephone that rings in the dead of night,” “Fear of having to identify the body of a dead friend,” and “Fear of waking up to find you gone.” It’s great imagery because he doesn’t just say “fear of getting a phone call at night,” or “fear of losing a friend,” he makes the fear more in-depth by including in the dead of night and identifying the body. This type of
imagery creates a picture in the readers head as if it was a piece of art. I feel that all the images he uses can be made into art and that everyone will have their own way of creating it.
I believe that the goal of this poem it to show all the fears that people go through, especially peoples parents. Raymond Carver is trying to show that there are so many fears in life but these fears shouldn’t hold you back. We can see this because he starts off talking about everyday fears and then talks about the fear of death. It is as if he goes through all the different fears in life until we die. This poem does a great job at having this come across to the readers. By listing each fear he is making it look like he is going step by step, listing one fear at a time. He also does a great job at showing how the last fear a person has
is death by repeating it twice and by making it the one and only stanza break. Fear is something that everyone has and everyone is afraid of different things.
Raymond Carver does a great job showing us fears that relate not only to us as the reader, but also fears that he has.