Poetry Commentary: The Wasps’ Nest

‘The Wasps’ Nest’ is a highly visual free verse by James L Rosenberg. This poem
primarily describes wasps – how they build their nests and clamp all those areas that are
useful for humans. The poem ends with Rosenberg drawing parallels between humans
and wasps. Here lies the true essence of the poem – adversities and upheavals in life
come and go, but through all these, the one constant that humans seek for is love and
acceptance. Humans are mere mortals, and despite their corporeal lives, they seek for
lasting love.

The poet calls the wasps ‘aerial tigers’ that are ‘striped in ebony and gold’. This
instantly gives the reader the impression that these wasps are treated royal creatures, and
not just mere insects. However, the next line itself

‘And resonantly, savagely a-hum’

crashes all those impressions. The wasps are now called irritating. He suddenly talks
about the wasps as if they were pests. Rosenberg calls the wasps persistent in making
their nests. Their mortality and the mortality of their nests does not affect the wasps in
any ways. They continue with their functions without bothering about the end.

The poet emphasizes the wasps’ persistent nature by using onomatopoeic words.
The sounds created by the wasps are extremely symbolic, as is explored further.

‘And resonantly, savagely a-hum’

This line is onomatopoeic as well as highlights the perseverance of the wasps.

‘Nor all my threats and warnings will avail to turn them

The constant buzzing of the wasps reminds the poet of their existence. This is also
symbolic of the humans, that through their activities, constantly try to be noticed. Their
fervour and frenzy is just like the constant buzzing of the wasps.
 ‘The Wasps’ Nest’ makes use of harsh diction. Words like ‘savagely’, ‘threats
and warnings’ and ‘blow’. This makes us aware of the harshness that is present in the
world around us. Moreover, these words suggest a war that will take place/ is taking
place. The wasps can be seen as the aerial planes that bombard the land. In this case, they
clamp the poet’s mailbox. The phenomena of attacking the mail box by the wasps can
also symbolize the lack of privacy because of surveillance planes that hovered over lands
during the wars. There was no possibility of communication, and everybody was
disconnected from each other. This further enhances one of the themes of the poem, that
everybody is an alien in this world; every human is at a distance from another.

The tone of the poem is rather solemn and melancholic. However, it never
becomes angry and heated, even though there is harsh diction used in the poem. There is
an ominous feel to the poem, and while reading it, one realizes that it marks the onset of
an event that will destroy everything. The poet makes clear through his poem that
everything is perishable – nothing is to remain forever. He uses words like ‘fragile’,
‘stranger’, ‘insubstantial’ and ‘paper’ which further prove the transient nature of the
world.

One of the motives of the poet while writing this poem could be to inspire the
soldiers and the army men to fight harder, just like the wasps. Their determination is
something that the poet reveres, and he salutes them for not bothering about the imposing
threats on them, and just carrying forward with their lives and functions. They are
determined and persistent. Even though they know that their opposition, which in this
case is the poet himself, is strong, they still go forward to fight. This is what the army
should seek to do.

The image of the ‘fragile citadels’ is very significant in the context of this poem.
This is an oxymoron; a citadel is a fortress and its function is to protect whoever is inside
it. Calling a citadel fragile would be undermining the very basic function of a citadel. If it
is fragile, it cannot function as a protective structure. Through this image, the poet could
be pointing towards the hollowness of humans. Humans are so caught up within the
materialistic goals of their life, that their lives become like a fragile citadel. Their exterior
fortress is strong, but the very roots of the citadel are weak. As humans become more and
more materialistic, their ‘citadel’ is more and more pressured and it eventually leads to its
collapse. The love is reduced to the love for trivial materialistic objects, and inevitably it
builds up to a fragile, rootless structure.

This poem also talks about the importance of a ‘home’. Homes are a private liar
for individuals. It is every individual’s instinctual objective to have a home. Even though
there are dangers involved, a home is the most basic necessity of a human. Despite every
insecurity present in that individual’s mind and life, having a home can lead to some
solace. Every individual seeks to build a ‘citadel’ for himself in order to protect himself
as far as he can. The wasps, despite knowing that they could be crushed by the writer in
one go, still go on making their nest.

In ‘The Wasps’ Nest’, the poet explains the importance of love in the life of
humans. It is one emotion that can sustain them through every adversity that they will
ever face. Despite the dangers that anyone can face during his lifetime, if he has love, he
can face it better.

‘Building the fragile citadels of love on the edge of

This line gives the reader an insight in to a typical human mind. One constant in an
individual’s life that he seeks for, is love. Despite all the adversities and troubles, he
believes in the power of love, and knows that love can get him far, farther than he can
imagine.

To conclude, this poem is an amalgamation of several different. The use of