The Cockroach by Kevin Kalligan - 1006 Words

Kevin Halligan was born in Toronto, Canada in 1964. He regards himself as an Anglophile and has spent long periods of time living in England, but has also travelled in Asia, where this poem, ‘The Cockroach’, was written. ‘The Cockroach’, is a short passage of a cockroach and how it made its way around a room, moving in lines and loops. It uses many different forms of imagery to depict the cockroach giving it emotion and character. In this poem he apparently focuses an intense concentration on an insect, but in a powerful twist of focus the whole poem flips back to reveal that Halligan also compares the cockroach to himself, leading the reader to suppose that the cockroach is representational of the poet and of life itself. When looking at a piece of poetry, the first thing that should be analyzed is the title. So in this case, one must speculate why and how Kevin Halligan selected the words he did for his title of the poem: The Cockroach. Firstly the word ‘The’ gives the reader a sense of a one particular cockroach. Not just any cockroach in general, or all cockroaches, but the single one in this poem, which he describes in intense detail. The cockroach, not a matter usually written about by many poets, provides readers with a sense of inquisitiveness that lures them in, therefore making the title stand out. The standard negative connotation of cockroach being a foul pest has been disregarded. Instead throughout the poem, Halligan’s eyes follow the cockroach, recalling all