Singapore by Mary Oliver in Term Paper

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As contrasted with "Singapore," the poem "In Creve Coeur" by Rosanna Warren symbolizes "our tarnished, everyday, ramshackle world of loss, anguish and sacrifice," much like the tone of "Singapore." As a poet, Warren "inhabits... A realm of classic purity, and in some of her best, most moving poems... dwells in both regions at once... " ("Rosanna Warren," Internet). One of the most obvious similarities between these two poems is that both are in an urban setting with the events described in Warren's poem set in the city of Creve Coeur in Missouri. However, this setting is contrasted against Oliver's poem with its Asian setting, being the city of Singapore in Malaysia. Overall, the tone of Warren's poem is one of death, symbolized by the unconscious baby taken from a burning house by a fireman.

The imagery in this poem is quite similar to that found in "Singapore." First of all, the focus is upon a fireman of Creve Coeur who is photographed by the narrator ("an amateur photographer") as he brings the lifeless and naked body of a baby from a burning house. Oliver compares this baby to laundry "pulled too soon from the line," meaning that like wet clothes, the baby is limp and rag-like ("rag of body").

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The image of the baby cuddled in the arms of the fireman is a "huge, dark, crumpled embrace" and the baby itself, although unconscious, presses its "doll-like fist" to the chest of the fireman.

As the baby's head appears to move for an instant, the fireman attempts mouth-to-mouth resuscitation ("Sucking the spirit back/to us from its lair of smoke"). The narrator then takes a picture of this event which wins a prize, yet the baby fails to respond to the fireman's efforts to bring her back to life. Thus, all of this imagery conveys the idea that life is full of "loss, anguish and sacrifice."

And much like Oliver's "Singapore," Warren's poem stresses a pattern of contrasting images and symbols -- the fireman "bent low" as he cuddles the baby in his arms after taking her from the burning house; the baby's hair "stands out like flame," a metaphor for fire; the baby is also a "ghost," a possible reference to her impending death from smoke inhalation. But most surprisingly, this poem relates that the fireman has done this type of thing many times in his career, much like the woman in the airport in Singapore who has washed ashtrays in the toilet an untold number of times......

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