The CockroachThe Cockroach

Kevin HalliganKevin Halligan

The PoetThe Poet• Kevin Halligan was born in Toronto, Canada

in 1964. He regards himself as an Anglophile and has spent long periods living in England, but he also travelled in Asia, where this poem is written.

• Halligan hones his poems obsessively. He is able to use a variety of forms with great control, and deceptive ease.

• He lived in Phnom Penh and worked for the Cambodia Daily newspaper, where he became acquainted with Buddhist theology.

KEVIN HALLIGAN grew up in Toronto and has lived in the UK and southeast Asia, wher. His poems have appeared in Vallum magazine, California Quarterly, Oxford Poetry, Acta Victoriana and the Times Literary Supplement.

THE COCKROACHKevin Halligan

I watched a giant cockroach start to pace,Skirting a ball of dust that rode the floor.At first he seemed quite satisfied to trace

A path between the wainscot and the door,

But soon he turned to jog in cooked rings,Circling the rusty table leg and back.And flipping right over to scratch his

wings-As if the victim of a mild attack

Of restlessness that worsened over time.After a while, he climbed an open shelf

And stopped. He looked uncertain where to go.

Was this due to payment for some vicious crime

A former life had led to? I don’t know,Except I thought I recognized myself.

Subject Matter• The poet is the persona in this poem• The persona watches the cockroach• The cockroach goes through obstacles on his journey• He feels pity for the cockroach which is not usual.• The cockroach gets confused and puzzled• Wondering what his life had led to; the end of his

life?• The persona can relate to the cockroach; can see

himself in this creature.• The persona answers the cockroach’s query with – ‘I

don’t know’ – this concludes that they are both confused

• Both the Cockroach and persona have done something in their life that they feel they are being punished for.

ThemesValue of life/ struggle through

life/Karma• Small insignificant creature, yet his life is precious to him • Irony that a human would want him dead, yet he is trying to save himself • The persona can relate to the cockroach’s struggle in life, and therefore, is able to relate to it.

 Loneliness

• The cockroach is alone, ironic, as there are many cockroaches in this world known as pests • The cockroach has no one to turn to in the time of need, he has come into this world alone, and shall die alone • To get somewhere, or to reach a goal, you need to work through it alone

  

Choices in life one  has to make• The cockroach doesn’t know where to go, “he looked

uncertain where to go”, but that choice could end in him dying, or finding freedom

• The persona tells us that it’s the choices we make in life which end with consequences we all must deal with

Main Idea / Theme• The cockroach is struggling to find his way around, until he

becomes “a victim of a mild attack” and starts to struggle with “ restlessness that worsened over time”

• From this we can deduce that the persona is conveying the main idea, which is: In order to get somewhere in life, one has to face many challenges and cope with uncertainty. We too are ‘dirty’ creatures that have committed many crimes/ sins, and what we receive in the future is a result of those sins we have committed in the past. By being ‘victims of a mild attack’, are we getting what we deserve?

Structure• It contains 14 lines, which is a sonnet - a

sonnet is used to present a love for something.• From lines 1-8 the poem has a rhyme scheme

of 'a b a b' - "pace", "trace" - "floor", "door"• But then from lines 9-14 the rhyme scheme of

the poem starts to change into a weird rhyming scheme as "time" rhymes with "crime" which is in line 12 but "shelf" in line 10 rhymes with "myself" on the last line.

• The poem has only 1 stanza which conveys that life is short.

• There is no rhythm in this poem• There is 1 sestet and 1 octet in this poem

Tone• A detailed fascination he has for a cockroach. He

starts the poem with admiration for the cockroach and later ends up with sorrow and confusion as the cockroach is soon portrayed as a parallel reflection of the poet.

• Halligan also makes the reader  have pity for the cockroach with the use of the cockroach's movement

Examples:• " skirting a ball of dust that rode the floor" • " he turned to jog in crooked rings" • " flipping right over to scratch his wings" • “ as if the victim of a mild attack"

Language devicesPersonification• There are quite a few examples of personification used in

this poem. Halligan refers to the cockroach throughout the poem as ‘he’, for example, ‘he climbed an open shelf’. The poet also gives the cockroach human actions. This language device gives a clear description of the cockroach’s action, connecting it with the persona.

EnjambmentLine 7-9:

And flipping right over to scratch his wings-As if the victim of a mild attack

Of restlessness that worsened over time.Shows the many various quick actions of the cockroach in

this movement

Rhetorical question‘was this due payment for some vicious crime a former life had led to?’

Shows that Halligan has pity for the cockroach and himself.

ImageryClear images can be seen in the poem due to the

adjectives usedEg. ‘Giant cockroach’ , ‘Rusty table leg’

This gives the reader a clear idea of what the surrounding is like at that time of observation. The word ‘rusty’ may suggest to the reader that even he himself is like the cockroach, travelling towards his goal with ‘dirty’ things along the way. Also emphasises the brevity of life – the man-made object is old and rusty, but we pass by on our way to death

Points to considerConsider the tone of voice of the

narrator and what effect this produces on the reader.

Suggested comparison with this poem:‘Hunting snake’ by Judith Wright