The Vacuum Analysis

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering’s, of tarnishing’s (Nin).”
The poem is focused around an old and widowed man who has a hard time dealing with the death of his wife and how it portrays emptiness in his life. In “The Vacuum” by Howard Nemerov, the poet’s use of similes and personification allows him to support the theme: Loneliness can be unbearable when it pertains to the death of a devoted loved one. Nemerov also uses similes to show a significant comparison of the wife to the vacuum cleaner and how the presence of someone special can linger on when they have passed away.
In the first stanza, the poet uses a simile that makes reference to “Its bag limp as a stopped lung, its mouth” (line 3). Limp and lung ties a comparison between two inanimate objects and gives
“I know now how life is cheap as dirt” (line 13). This is a simile that personifies life has no meaning with the loss of his wife. Cheap as dirt portrays to the reader that the husband feels he can’t live life without her in it. He’d rather die than try to stay in the house they once shared that was always filled with her removing all the elements of any dust or dirt to make the home comfortable for the two of them. He feels his life is worthless and has no meaning or value, like dirt does in the absence of his loving wife who every day for as long as he could remember gave his life meaning. This feeling can take hold of your mind and cause your body to feel like you’re dying inside. You can’t think, move, or even eat. Just the thought of doing something that the wife once did can be a discouraging task on a daily basis. Sometimes nothing can cure a broken heart when you have lost a loved one who has been a pivotal part of your life for quite some