Hayden Carruth is an American poet who wrote during the twentieth century-modernism movement. He served in World War II and uses a lot of his personal experiences in his writing (Contemporary Authors Online). In “None,” Carruth is able to use many different allusions to show the speaker’s underlying regret for not showing his friend off properly. Carruth uses images, irony, and allusions to show the speaker’s remorse and regret to how his friend was treated. Carruth uses images of the underworld and the adventures after death to show that his friend’s memory shouldn’t be lost yet. The speaker shows the dead that they are not forgotten by showing them that rituals are performed in their memory.
“... When you came to the riverbank you saw a …show more content…
“You died. And because you were Greek they gave you a coin to carry under your tongue and then also / biscuits and honey …” (1-2). In the Greek culture when a person dies they are to be buried with a coin under their tongue and biscuits and honey. The coin is to assure safe passage across the river and is to be paid to the ferryman once the deceased has safely made it to the gates (Stevens). The biscuits and honey are for Cerberus, Hades dog, this gift is to allow the dead access into the gates, past the protector of the dead (Perseus). This person is well cared for and loved. They have people who care deeply about them, putting them to rest easy and assuring that they are able to survive in the underworld. This person was also likely involved in their culture and spent a lot of time immersing themselves in the lives of others. In this poem Carruth shows this person’s death through two different cultures, he describes the Navajo burial as a much more beautiful sending off, “... They took off your moccasins and put them on again wrong side to, the left one / on the right foot, the right one on the left, so that your chindi would be confused and unable to return / along your tracks …” (10-12). One’s chindi is their evil ghost or spirit that follows them after death (Merriam-Webster). While one’s chindi …show more content…
He believes that it’s a moment that should be treated delicately, but he knows that it doesn’t commonly happen, especially for the people that deserve it. A lot of Carruth’s poems are written around the topic of death and in “None” the reader can see that he doesn’t think it’s fair; he doesn’t think everyone is given equal opportunities going into
“... When you came to the riverbank you saw a …show more content…
“You died. And because you were Greek they gave you a coin to carry under your tongue and then also / biscuits and honey …” (1-2). In the Greek culture when a person dies they are to be buried with a coin under their tongue and biscuits and honey. The coin is to assure safe passage across the river and is to be paid to the ferryman once the deceased has safely made it to the gates (Stevens). The biscuits and honey are for Cerberus, Hades dog, this gift is to allow the dead access into the gates, past the protector of the dead (Perseus). This person is well cared for and loved. They have people who care deeply about them, putting them to rest easy and assuring that they are able to survive in the underworld. This person was also likely involved in their culture and spent a lot of time immersing themselves in the lives of others. In this poem Carruth shows this person’s death through two different cultures, he describes the Navajo burial as a much more beautiful sending off, “... They took off your moccasins and put them on again wrong side to, the left one / on the right foot, the right one on the left, so that your chindi would be confused and unable to return / along your tracks …” (10-12). One’s chindi is their evil ghost or spirit that follows them after death (Merriam-Webster). While one’s chindi …show more content…
He believes that it’s a moment that should be treated delicately, but he knows that it doesn’t commonly happen, especially for the people that deserve it. A lot of Carruth’s poems are written around the topic of death and in “None” the reader can see that he doesn’t think it’s fair; he doesn’t think everyone is given equal opportunities going into