The Tunnel Poem

"Poetry is about slowing down, you sit and you read something, you read it again, and it reveals a little bit more, and things come to light you never could have predicted." (New Criterion). This is a direct quote from Mark Strand himself and this idea about poetry couldn’t be anymore true. In “The Tunnel,” written by Strand, is about a man who is being stalked by a strange individual for days which slowly made him insane. Even though there is a physical story, there is a greater meaning hidden in this poem and this hidden message deals with judgment. There are many ways we can judge people, places, things and even ideas that are around us. Often times, we unintentionally judge others because of their appearance or actions more than we judge …show more content…
From the analysis gathered, Strand makes the reader fully aware that he has suicidal depression. Suicide is the main word that stands out in this sentence, much less in the whole poem. This placement of strong diction shows the main character may have suicide present in his mind. To help make the idea of suicide present, Strand uses simple diction such as “large” and “easily” to not only make the main character and stanger aware of this idea, but also the reader. Strand could have used stronger diction other than “large” and “easily,” he wanted to show that the idea of suicide was simply and directly shown. Strand also shows that there is more than one suicide note being written. The word “Notes” is plural which means there is not only one note, there are multiple showing suicide is a recurring thought that the main character is thinking of. This also leads to the following sentence, “I destroy the living room furniture to prove I own nothing of value.”(The Tunnel). This quote can be analyzed in many ways, but Strand could be making the connection that the living room is his body and/or his mentality. Because suicide is strongly placed in this poem, it would be no surprise that the main character is abusing himself physically and mentally. When it says “To prove I own nothing of value,” Strand could be making the comparison that he is destroying his body or criticizing himself proving that