Body Seeing The Body David Snodgrass Summary

Daniel Lombardo Viewing the Body Viewing the Body by W.D. Snodgrass is a poem that mixes the story of a boring and soulless life with rhythm, bright colors, and emotions which make the woman in the poem seem that much more boring and wasteful of life.

The poem discusses the funeral of a woman and how she is presented in her funeral as someone people would be more likely to romanticize than what she actually was, perhaps out of a misguided sign of respect. The other more hidden meaning behind the poem is the author's reaction to the women herself and how she is portrayed in almost a spiteful, angry way because of his anger over her wasting her life in gray dullness.

To amplify how plain she was he fills the poem with many vibrant and strong words such as colors and strong language. Starting from the first paragraph he mentions flowers and eye shadow, which are both colorful and alive. He uses the words gangster and whore, which are both strong personalities in life that movies and books have been written about because of their unique lifestyle.

The second paragraph continues with this use of lively words by mentioning lipstick a very bright and with some people their most distinguishing characteristic. The other keyword was the dress she was wearing which apparently she never would have worn in
Red and obscene definitely go well together, it being the color of blood and notorious for its sexual undertones, definitely a color that the woman would have avoided during life. The last word that grabs attention is the satin that lines the inside of the coffin. Satin is one of the most soft and smooth materials that is both comfortable and attractive as well as a sign of wealth and extravagance. This is a most ironic way to be spending an eternity of death in such lively and extravagant surroundings after a life spent working so hard to avoid anything that makes life worth