Christian Washington

English 1102 8am-10: 45am

Dr. Kelley

6-7-2011

“Auto Wreck” by Karl Shapiro

In Karl Shapiro’s poem “Auto Wreck”, as it is titled, takes place during the night

in a crowed city describing how death in the form of a car accident effects the

environment in which it occurs. Shapiro’s portrayal about the gruesome auto wreck

entails an overall tone of despair. When illustrating the victims in the auto wreck Shapiro

describes them as mangled and terrible cargo being loaded into the ambulance. This

reveals that the auto wreck more than likely was a head-on collision at a high speed. To

add to that gruesome image Shapiro also described an officer with a bucket douching

pounds of blood, which depicts that this auto wreck had no survivors. The ambulance and

police officers with urgency He describes the bystanders on the scene as deranged

meaning there was confusion among those who were watching, but yet those bystanders

felt a since relief because it was no one they knew. The images that contribute to the tone

of despair are the mangled lifted, the ambulance with its terrible cargo, and a police

officer douching pounds of blood. The bystanders in this poem are depicted as deranged

because they are looking at the wreck in disarray with their throats tight as tourniquets,

which exposes how humans may react when they see a tragic even