“Visiting The Shattered” is about the speaker who is visiting refugees in Lahore, Pakistan. These refugees are the survivors of a bombing that wiped out the entire population of the city except for four people. The speaker observes the aftermath of the bombing—all of the debris—and how the survivors are beaten up and bleeding but still have the motivation to go on and reclaim their lives (Resurgam).
I like the subtle rhyme in the poem; it’s not sing-songy or distracting. I also like how we don’t see the speaker present in the poem; we just see his observations of the ruin and the survivors, which I think should be the focus and thus the most important part to see. The horror of the bombing really shines through a few images—the bleeding palms and angry nails, and the dismembered hand. These images are the only ones in the poem that show vivid color, and they make a splash. The tone and previous images (February, concrete, sand) make the scene out to be grey, bleak, and lifeless; but the last stanza drops color into the poem and gives us a theme: there is hope for life when tragedy strikes. The large space between the title and second stanza seems to indicate the passing of time between the announcement of the bombing and the speaker’s visit to the site.
One line threw me off: “The sight of them-enticing. All else pales.” This is the one instance where we get a look at the speaker (he is enticed by the sight of the survivors). I’m not sure I want to know anything else about the speaker except that he is a visitor (we know this from the title). This line also tells the reader how they should feel, but I don’t think we need to be told how to feel with such gruesome images present. This line just sounds off.
Caroline Goodin ENGL 220-03
Caroline, thanks–in all of your posts–for offering pointed, constructive criticism for the author to consider with revision