AFTER THE LAST BULLETINS" By. Richard Wilbur - Critical Appreciation

  "AFTER THE LAST BULLETINS" By. Richard Wilbur

Critical Appreciation:-

1) In this poem the poet throws beams on the flood of information technology. That every moment there is something new sensational and crucial but at the very next moment it becomes something worthless and useless hence it is treated as trash.

2) The title of the poem is quite suitable and apt because after the last bulletins even the news reporters enjoy the sound sleep quite indifferently. The subject of the poem is the excess of information in the modern world and the death of substantial knowledge and wisdom in the people. 

3) The attitude of the poet is satiric and ironic as we know despite having a lot of information reports man has no time to pay heed to it rather modernman seems to be indifferent to the information which is provided to him. To the background of this poem is the shallowness of modern information and technology.

4) After the last bulletins is a thought provoking poem by richard Wilbur. The poem deals with an important aspect of modern life i.e modern information and technological advancement. The flood of information which is devouring the public of the city at every moment of life soon becomes a wastage.

5) The poem deals with the important fact of modern life of the city dwellers. The poet seems to satirize the chams of modern information media which is pouring out heaps andpiles of news items that have no real or intinsic value for man as such rather modern information becomes old and stale overnight . Each new morning sets the people as much for repetition of the same dull and old routine gossips.

6) The news collectors are tired down as the night approaches so they withdraw themselves hastily to their beds after they have issued last bulletins: " After the last bulletins the windows darken".  News reporters sink into the ocan of sleep like Atlantis. Though they themselves go to sleep yet they make other people restless by their unwanted heaps of news. 

7) The poet tries to affirm that something of great importance today will become trash tomorrow. Early in the morning everything returns back to activity. Sweeper, saint like people are seen cleaning up the litter while the birds are singing.

8) The poet talks about the cycle, It's like a process in which all of us are invovlved. He talks about being born and die. The poem has an underlying ironic tone as well but we have to be a bit conscious about that. The news and views are thrown away every moment in a modern society from all the different media channels.

9) But the news have no weight because all of people draw down the curtains at their bedroom windows and go to sleep rather peacefully. Even the public do not know the real worth of the material supplied to them. Thus ironically enough, the poet seems to satirize the so called charm and spell of modern information media.

10) So far as the form of the poem is concerned , the poem has been written in old classic Stanza Style . There are 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Each stanza has a rhyme scheme of abcd, thus line num 2 and 4 of each stanza is a run on line , carrying its views on to the next stanza. The poem lends a lasting imopression on us.