The Cockroach

How does the poet powerfully convey a sense of loss and frustration is
this poem?
The Cockroach is a poem written my Kevin Halligan, a Canadian
poet. In this poem, the poet analyses the movements and actions of a
cockroach as it paces across a room. At first glance, the poem is about,
as the title suggests, a cockroach. However, with a deeper reading, it
becomes quite obvious that the poet is in fact an extended metaphor
of the persona(the poet himself), or of humans in general. In this
poem, the poet powerfully conveys a sense of loss and frustration.
Halligan considers himself an Anglophile, and has spent long periods
living in England, but has also travelled in Asia, where this poem was
written.
The poem is in the form of a sonnet, possibly conveying his love
for travelling, as the poet wrote this poem in India, after many years of
travelling. The poem has a consistent ABAB rhyme until the 9th line,
and then it loses its rhyme scheme. This is also where the poem
transitions from a sonnet to a sestet, marking a turn of emotion in the
poem, possibly conveying the realization the poet has when he
connects the life and actions of the cockroach to his own. There is a
lack of any clear stanza or separation in the poem. This may portray
the poet or the atmosphere at the current moment as a very relaxed
one due to the fluidity of not having to pause to move to the next
stanza, especially in this case where he has the time to observe the
actions of a small cockroach. The constant ABAB rhyme scheme also
suggests that his feelings of restlessness have always been constant
and persistent.
In the first quatrain, the poet describes the actions of the
cockroach, which symbolizes the beginning of the poets life. The use
of the word giant to describe the cockroach makes the cockroach
seem very prominent, as if it is the only thing in the room. This makes
the reader pay full attention to the cockroach, as it is clearly very
significant in this poem. The phrase start to pace signifies that the
cockroach is beginning his journey around the room, which symbolizes
the beginning of the poets life, as the word start shows the beginning
of something. The phrase skirting a ball of dust in the second line
portray the cockroach as being able to avoid an obstacle or hardship
by detour. The fact that it is a ball of dust that road the floor gives the
impression that it is accumulating, much like a snowball rolling down a
ski slope. This suggests that if that obstacle or hardship is not tackled
now, the problems will build up and eventually be more difficult to deal
with and overcome in the future. This is similar to the lethargic,
indifferent quality that us humans have naturally to simply avoid
challenges or obstacles we face in life, which always come back around

bigger and more viciously challenging. The phrase quite satisfied to

trace the path suggests that the poet was happy to follow in the
footsteps of someone significantly important in his life, or that he had
simply to follow a path or route that had already been set out for him
in his life. This is all easy breezy for the poet, as his life at this point is
smooth sailing. The phrase between the wainscot and the door show
that this is still the beginning of the poets life and his journey, as
cockroaches are normally associated as coming out of the gap
between the wainscot and the door. The words used in these first four
lines that describe the movements of the cockroach across the room
such as pace, skirting and trace give the impression of the poet
being very relaxed and nonchalant at this point in his life.
The second quatrain takes a turn for the worse, as the
movements of the cockroach become more frantic and agitated. The
words but soon are used at the start of the quatrain, but signifying a
turning point in the poets life, as the poet turns away from the clear
path that is set out for him, to search for something more significant
and purposeful in his life. The phrase jog in crooked rings suggests
that the poet is agitated and restless, and the path set out for him is
now unclear and crooked. The word jog is a fast-paced, frantic sort
of movement, compared to the words used earlier such as trace and
pace, emphasizing the poets flustered, uncertain thoughts and
actions at this point in his life. Jogging is also normally associated with
humans, and so the personification here also provides a hint to the
reader that the poet is actually describing himself. The word circling
might also suggest that the poet is trying to walk straight but instead
finds himself going round in circles, not ending up in a particular
destination. The poet doesnt know what to do at this point in his life,
and is perhaps searching for meaning in his life. This also exaggerates
the fact that in life, we humans tend to have our ups and downs, and
how we easily become agitated and scurry everywhere searching for
the meaning in our lives. This could be similar to a mid-life crisis, and
could therefore suggest that the poet is going through a mid-life crisis
himself. The phrase and flipping right over to scratch his wings in line
7 further emphasizes the restlessness that the poet feels, like he has
done nothing of substance and worthy in his life and therefore feels a
sudden need to do something useful in his life. The action of flipping
over suggests that the poet wants to turn his life around, or could
signify his frustration. The phrase scratch his wings would be similar
to the poet scratching his head in frustration, trying to figure out the
road he has to take next. The phrase mild attack could symbolize
some sort of panic attack that the poet faces due to his growing
dissatisfaction. The enjambment of the final line of the octave links it
with the sestet, which shows that they are connected. The octave
describes and introduces the issue to us, and the sestet concludes it.

By connecting the two lines, the poet binds the entire poem together,
clearly showing the link one part of his life to the another.
The first sentence of the sestet : of restlessness that worsened
over time just serves to further emphasize the poets utter resentment
towards where he is that point in his life. In line 10, the poet seems to
finally do something worthwhile. After a while, he climbed an open
shelf. This signifies a period of hardship in the poets life, as if he is
climbing to overcome something, or to achieve something higher up.
It gives the reader the impression that the poet is exerting a lot of
energy to achieve something as big as a mountain, as a shelf would
appear to be the size of a mountain to a minute cockroach. There is
implication of a sense of progress- the poet is going somewhere he has
never been before, and is a very productive phase in his life. The word
open could symbolize the vast opportunities that the poet faces once
he reaches the top of the mountain or rather, he successfully reaches
his destination and is now faces with a myriad of opportunities on
where he can now go with his life. This also signifies the vast potential
that we humans have when we simply work hard to achieve something
we strive for. Open could also suggest an open-mindedness that the
poet has once he reaches his goal.
However, there is a very sudden stop in line 11, with the phrase
And stopped. He looked uncertain where to go. There is a very
blatant caesura here in the form of two full stops. This slows down the
pace of the poem, and even brings it to a dramatic halt, catching the
readers attention. The first caesura is used as a tool by the poet to
create a pause in the reading pace of the reader, to make the success
of the cockroach more dramatic. The second one however, is to let the
fact that it has completed its aim and has nothing left to do sink in. The
poet is confused and lacks direction as even after he has achieved his
goal, he finds that he has nothing left to do anymore. This reflects on
natural human behavior, and how after achieving something significant
in life, we feel a sense of emptiness and lack of feeling, as life returns
to its meaningless, empty state once again. The poet is perplexed and
we can interpret this from line thirteen, when the poet asks a question:
A former life had led to? I dont know. It stresses his puzzled feeling,
as he describes the state he is in right now as some sort of
punishment, like karma from a previous life creating this endless cycle
of nothingness.
The poem finished with the line Except I thought I saw myself,
which we can now interpret as the poet using the cockroach as an
extended metaphor for himself and the struggles he faces in life.
In summation, The Cockroach is a poem about life, and the
journey that we humans have in search for the meaning of life. We
spend the early years of our lives carelessly, following the paths that
are clearly set our for us, presumably by our parents. However, once
we reach a certain stage of our lives, we find that it is unsatisfactory,

and express the need to achieve something greater. It becomes clear

that humans have a certain greed imprinted in them. Even though we
have achieved the greatest feat considered possible, we still want
more. This leads to a never- ending cycle of deep dissatisfaction and
restlessness, for our longing for something greater is never satiated.
This is what the poet is facing in his life. This poem is urging us to not
be so greedy and to be satisfied and proud of whatever we achieve,
else we might get stuck in a perpetual cycle of desperation and
agitation, much like what the poet is experiencing now.