Muriel Rukeyser

"The Book of the Dead"

What three things can never be done? 

Forget. Keep silent. Stand alone.

The hill of glass, the fatal brilliant plain.

pushed forests down in an implacable walk 

west where new clouds lay at the desirable 

body of sunset;

But planted in our flesh, these valleys stand,

everywhere we begin to know the illness, 

are forced up, and our times confirm us all.

There touching radium and the luminous poison, 

carried their death on their lips and with their warning

glow in their graves. 
("The Book of the Dead" 13-15, 28-30, 67-69, 97-99)

In "The Book of the Dead," Rukeyser is able to use diction or word choice as a way to help readers visualize the tragedy as well as better understand how devastating it was.  There are a variety of examples that show this. One of them is when she writes, "The hills of glass, the fatal brilliant plain." In this example, her word choice for describing the plain as "fatal" contributes to the overall theme of death. Another example is when she writes, "Where new clouds lay at the desirable / body of sunset." (29-30).  With "clouds lay," Rukeyser creates imagery that is dark and gloomy.  Also, with "body of sunset," Rukeyser uses the idea of sunset as a way to portray death in the poem.  In addition, she states in the poem, "Everywhere we begin to know the illness" as a way to show how much of an impact the tragedy had on peoples' lives.  She continues to create the theme of death when she writes, “These touching radium and the luminous poison, / carried their death on their lips and with their warning / glow in their graves.” (97-99). By using words such as “poison”, “death” and “graves” she is able to get the idea of death across to the reader. 

When I read this poem, I thought it was very powerful and made me feel as if I were experiencing this myself.  I really like how she used “docupoetry” because she was able to provide an account of what happened in poetic form.  Also, I love how she is able to paint pictures with the words that she uses.  This poem is informative but at the same time written beautifully.  Overall, I really enjoyed reading this poem. 

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