The poem Aids To The Wind uses a blue tone to narrow a story of the author s friend s death. It depicts how AIDS destroyed a life as wind put out a fire.
In the opening three lines, It was the fire and smoke of his bravado, that allowed him to storm in and hold court of his audience, the writer characterizes a brave and confident man who was strong and healthy; he could handle all difficulties in his life. But the writer continues, saying that is only a feigned bravado Could not hold back the wind. That means because of AIDS, he could not do anything.
The second paragraph is saying as the time went on, the patient s condition became more and more serious. This phantom rushed in. Here, phantom is an image of AIDS. His families did their best to take care of him. AIDS affected not only himself but also his family and the people around him.
Then, the author describes the inner fears of the patient. It didn t regard his bravado, which we all knew masked his fears. Even though he pretended bravely to face everything; indeed, he was full of fears in his heart. His appearance was only a mask, which could not cover his fears. In this paragraph the author uses a stealthy soldier on a mission as an image to represent the devil of death was coming. When the death was coming he lost everything his fire, his storm, his hopes. In this case, fire represents life.
The fourth paragraph expounds about how AIDS destroyed his whole life his mind, his outlook and his body. The prom says, This wind reduced to rubble his once disarming smile wrenched his strong, black comeliness, and caused a rumble the shook his being, and a fire that caused a boil in his blood. Here, the wind and fire refers to aids.
Then, the author uses imagery to elaborate on the death. A rapier was this chilly north wind, slashing, turning his insides out. A rapier represents the reason of his death. Wind refers to AIDS.
The last two paragraphs express the sigh from the author. How puny and stark the brown box of ashes is hardly a fitting sum of him alone, silent, without his fire. How soft a south wind is; how easily it can now blow him away The words express the regret for his friend s death. This forces the reader to think about the meaning of life, instead of simply reading about them. In this case, the writer improves the reader s perception of the emotions described in the poem.
The author uses a lot of images in this poem, such as fire, wind, phantom, soldier, and rapier. The imagery in the poem shines great light on some hidden similarities between AIDS and wind, life and fire. The author succeeds in communicating quite effectively to the reader.
Beside the images used, I also note the wording in the poem. For the first five paragraphs, the writer uses some violent words and phases, such as fire, storm, rush, slashing, and struck down. Through these words, the reader can picture the battle between the patient and the disease. Then, the author uses the soft words in the last two paragraphs to express his sigh.
Personally, I like this poem, since it is easy to understand and it touches my heart. The author avoids being over ostentatious. The imagery and the wording demonstrate the intelligence of the author.
