Like A Frog Singing At Carnegie Hall Poem Analysis

“From the depths of a land of silence of charred bones of burned vine shoots of stomps of screams” is interpreted as a dark atmosphere because of the dark diction, while “your voice sounds like… wind howling in a coconut… like a pig drowning...like a frog singing at Carnegie Hall” is interpreted as dark humor. There are several ways in which Canadian and Caribbean authors provide a dark or depressing setting to their literature. Canadians are known for their dark humor, which makes their literature unique and distinctive. The authors provide a fresh, new look at literature by providing a dark setting and using different diction. Three ways that Canadian and Caribbean authors portrayed darkness is through diction, atmosphere, and humor.

“[A] land of silence of charred bones...storms of screams...held back and muzzled” is an example of dark atmosphere because the author shows it by describing a dark, terrifying land (274). Another example is seen in “Notes Towards a Poem That Can Never Be Written.” The atmosphere set in this poem is very lonely and defeating. “[T]his is the place that will...defeat you...this famine...where so many were buried, unearthed, unendurable pain still traced on their skins” (289). This example of dark atmosphere shows that the character in this story felt alone, defeated and empty; the character in the story says “will defeat you” which shows defeat, and he says “unearthed” which gives the connotation of loneliness and emptiness. “Man on the Edge” also provides the image of a dark atmosphere. This poem talks about a man “condemned irretrievably to his own time” (307). This can be interpreted as a dark atmosphere because the man is terrified of living life, which he is “sentenced to” or forced to. Dark atmosphere lead to dark humor, which Canadians are widely known for in their literature as well as their daily