The Man with The Night Sweats

Overview

This poem is an elegy where a poet takes on a persona of an anonymous man struggling with AIDS whilst it keeps him awake through the night which creates a sympathetic picture for the unknown man

Form

Alternations between quatrains and couplets which suggests the switch ups throughout the persona’s mind

purpose of the poem

The poet conveys the turmoil in which victims undergo whilst moods switch from nostalgia, pain, isolation and mortality

Imagery

“wake up cold… dreams of heat”

these are juxtaposed which emphasises his immediate wake up feeling distressed and uncomfortable, however he used to be satisfied sleeping around and now he’s reached a harsh reality

“risk that made robust”

suggests how the risks permanently had an effect

“hugging my body to me”

suggests he puts his arms around himself as a futile attempt to act as a physical shield, which further emphasises his isolation as there‘s nobody there to hug him