Analysis of Charles Bukowski's "let it Enfold You".

Charles Bukowski is a seemingly troubled man who wrote a poem on things he hates, cannot stand, and later accepts later on in life. The poem "Let it Enfold You" is a writing in which Charles explores the true intentions of human nature and the feelings people are hiding deep within themselves. In such passages as, "I trusted no man and especially no woman" Charles gives a basic idea of the stanzas to come in which he explains his pet peeves ranging from countries in Europe to the color orange. Later Charles sees the world as a place full of hate, just as he hates. Charles states, "..that I wasn't different from the others, I was the same, they were all fulsome with hatred, glossed over with petty grievances.." signifying how he was no different from any one else. Also he began to find larger meanings in small things such as "I allowed myself to feel good at times. I found moments of peace in cheap rooms just staring at the knobs of some dresser or listening to the rain in the dark". The transformation of Charles gradually takes place as he notices even more subtle ideas of life and humanity. For example, " maybe the other life had worn me down. I no longer found glamour in topping somebody in conversation. or in mounting the body of some poor drunken female whose life had slipped away into sorrow" shows how insignificant the ways of his past were to this new, more mellowed out, Charles. This sentence in particular examines how beauty can be seen in even the mouse hanging out on the dresser.

" I began to see things:
coffe cups lined up
behind a counter in a
cafe.
or a dog walking along
a sidewalk.
or the way the mouse
on my dresser top
stopped there
with its body,
its ears,
its nose,
it was fixed,
a bit of life
caught within itself
and its eyes looked
at me
and they were
beautiful.
then- it was
gone.

As the story unfolds Charles falls back into small recession as he explains his suicidal thoughts not being as prominent as he says here " The knife got near my throat again, I almost turned on the gas again but when the good moments arrived again I did'nt fight them off like an alley adversary". " I saw the shape of my wife's head, she so still, i ached for her life, just being there under the covers", shows how he is even more in tune with the world around him by expressing his love for his wife. The poem wraps up by showing us his first real encounter with another male and showing some sense of acknowledgment other than a blow to the head, " i saw the mailman,
honked, he waved back at me". This signifies brighter days to come along with the idea of people are not as bad as he once thought.