Nightmares By Roethke

This poem describes how when he goes to sleep, the speaker begins a “war” and he also begins to have nightmares. All “visions of light” begin to disappear, this could be all the things that make him feel safe begin to go away when he goes to sleep. He also states that he is “shribling with fear” meaning that these nightmares that he has are truly terrifying. He continues to state that no one will hear him scream meaning no one will come help him. He also says that god is near but “the devil is right here” meaning he has no hope. This poem talks about sleeping and god and in the story, the man dreams of how things used to be and uses that to help bring a sense of normality to the boy and he also talks about god and how god will always be there with him. …show more content…
He doesn’t like dreaming because he knows that that reality will never come true again and it’s depressing and kind of terrifying to be repeatedly dreaming of what could never be. He also doesn’t want his son to dream because if he does, he will experience the same amount of disappointment when he wakes up. In a sense the devil is present throughout the story. Since there are many people committing heinous acts of crime and cannibalism, they could be seen as the devil or spawns of the devil or spawns of the devil. The man and the boy see these acts as immoral just like god would see those sinning as spawns of the