Small Focus in At The Bomb Testing Site Essay

The subject of the poem is a desert lizard. With just a few words, these lines convey great heat (the sun is highest in the sky at noon), great solitude (the desert is thought of as a desolate place in which creatures and plants must struggle for survival) and great urgency (the lizard is panting and tense, implying exertion or a fight-or-flight reaction). From the poems title, we know that the lizard lives in an area upon which a bomb is about to be dropped. Use of the word elbows instead of legs attributes human qualities to the lizard, comparing humans with this creature and implying that the lizards fate might be ours as well.

This tiny lizard in the midst of the vast desert is made to seem yet smaller by the use of the word history. History can refer to the lizards individual life in the desert, which is about to come to a close and also human history, including the development of technology and weapons such as the bomb in the title signifying how mankind is destroying itself and its environment.

The lizard is tensed because something might happen, which involves history. The word road implies mankinds presence and intervention in this desert landscape, as the only roads in the desert are manmade. The lizard literally looks at the road, but, in a larger sense, is also watching what humanity is doing. If something happens, it will be brought about by man. The particular road can also be interpreted as the course of events of the lizards life, which is about to be brought to an end by the actions of people. The word curve reinforces that what is about to happen cant be seen yet; its just around the corner.

The quiet, casual, ordinary language of these lines, especially using the non-descriptive word something to refer to the enormity and violence of a bomb explosion, create a tension that strengthens the poems effect.

Something might happen, which refers to the explosion, is now expanded to something farther off, the larger consequences of nuclear weapons in particular and of war in general. The use of the word selves personifies the lizard (and other animals that are implied), giving it a consciousness. The word little is ironic, as this tiny creature has greater compassion than beings two hundred times its size, who are in reality the small-minded ones.

In contrast, a continent without much left on it, can also imply that the bombing has already occurred. The consequences are not only going to affect the earthlings but also the sky that never cared less. This might refer to the environmental damage caused by the bombing. After all the happenings, the lizard is waiting for change to occur, gripping hard on the desert. This is indicative of the fact that humans wait for things to happen on their own rather than making the change.

"At the Bomb Testing Site" makes a big point by focusing on something very small: a solitary desert lizard facing destruction. It works by subtly enlarging our perceptions of nature, violence, and death. The poem never mentions the words "death" or "war."The information we get is from the title and infer the rest from the unfolding description of the lizard.