Essay #2 : Field of Skulls

Amber Watkins

Ms. Cline

ENG 102

17 Sept 2011

Field of Skulls

In the poem "Field of Skulls" by Mary Karr, the author discusses someone to be suicidal. As I read the poem the first time I had almost no understanding about what was going on, but reading it a second time made me understand. In this poem I believe that the person is suicidal. The tone of the story is depressing and serious. Throughout the poem the author points out different key points of being miserable. This person longs to die because of the depression, and the skulls that stare envy life. The skulls make a big representation in the poem towards the person it’s addressing because they have something to do with the past. I believe the author addresses the audience only because he uses the word you throughout the poem. In different areas is the poem there are some key points that show someone is probably unhappy.

In the poem I came to the understanding that the person the author is addressing is depressed or suicidal. When the author states, "The window you've picked is a black postage stamp you spend hours at"(Karr line 3-4). I believe that this is a state of depression, and if not, it might mean someone is stressed and have been for a while.  One thing that Karr mentions is that the person is drinking on some alcohol after the I Love Lucy show. The person that’s watching this show was trying to get some laughs because they are upset. I made this inference because I Love Lucy is a comedy show, and normally when someone is upset they would try to do something to lift there sprits.

When Karr states, "Stare hard enough at the fabric of night"(Karr 1). By the author saying the fabric of night I think of a starless night sky, like a blanket of night. In stanza two when the author says, "Like your eyes have force"(Karr line 7). This means the person is focused on his or her depression. Behind the vision, and thoughts, the person concentrates on the cause of depression. The field of skulls is the cause of depression. Field of skulls is symbolic for a loved one, a family member, or people that have died in his life. "They're plain once you think to look." I think the author is referring to the skulls, and once he gets past the depression the person realizes that there’s nothing really special about the skulls.

In stanza three i believe that the author just basically discuss that a criminal could be anyone. "Roam your very block and even history lists"(Karr line 14). It could be your next door neighbor or even a mail man. He also compares most of these everyday people to Hitler or Uncle Tom. In stanza four I assume the fact that people were after him, or maybe even watching him. When the author says, "The bad news piped steady from your head"(Karr line 23). When Karr says this i believe maybe someone was shot and all you see is nothing but darkness. In stanza five I believe that person should be dead, because the skulls envy when looking at him. Most of stanza five is about skulls representing death, or the afterlife is trying to reach out to the reader.

In most cases I believe the guy is suicidal and maybe hoping someone to kill him. In some parts of the poem I believe that the skulls are also jealous of what that someone has, and that’s life. Overall i believe this essay was more of a suicide type of message. I don’t think there was a rhyming scheme in the poem. I believe that the relationship between the person and others was more of a scarce relation, because the author made it seems as if someone was out to hurt someone, so always keep a guard up. The person is more of fear of everyone else. I really like this poem because it is very interesting and I can make a lot of inferences about it.