Theme
The Vacuum is a poem by Howard Nemerov that focuses on the central theme of loneliness caused by the death of a loved one. However, Nemerov took a very different twist in writing the poem, mainly because its entire structure is composed of puns that tend to reference the word “vacuum” in two ways – the space the wife of the speaker left when she died and the appliance, the vacuum cleaner, she once frequently used when she was living. Given such a rather sad yet creative expression, Nemerov was able to vividly embody the emotions of the speaker, who is missing his wife ...
