Nocturne Poetry Analysis

I can't seem to get my poem on this post without completely screwing up the formatting, so I'm just going to post the link to it. (:

Nocturne, by Li  Young Lee
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171756

A nocturne by definition is a piece that is inspired by the night. With this in mind, nocturnes are typically calm and peaceful. However, Nocturne, by Li-Young Lee, is the exact opposite. With its vividly grotesque and distressing imagery, Nocturne embodies a tone of insecurity and fear. The poem begins with the “scraping of iron on iron.” The malicious wind doesn’t “quit,” but prolongs the grinding noise by slowly “dragging back and forth.” The sound is unpredictable; at times it is “faint, far,” but suddenly becomes “close, just beyond the screened door.” The irregularity of the sound adds to its spitefully frightening nature, for the sound seems to exist simply to scare those who are jumpy or anxious in the dark. Lee then intensifies the eerie bleakness by comparing the unsettling sound to a suspicious stalking man who “squats in the dark” “beyond the screen door.” This personification ties the sound to a very real threat. Lee continues by listing a number of disturbing images that have a likeness to this sound; all of which climax into an eventual representation of chaos and disgust. Lee then concludes by ambiguously warning that “something” is “loose” outside that should not be free. By using “something,” rather than a concrete image, Lee hints that the threat does not have to be a person, an animal, or even a thing of this world. By leaving it up to the imagination of the reader, Lee effectively adds another layer of fear into his poem.