Lines 1-3

"The Cobweb" is a disarmingly simple poem written in free verse. Carver relies on the rhythm of sentences, rather than any fixed meter or rhyme scheme. Because Carver's poems, especially his later ones, carry a good deal of autobiographical information in them, knowledge of his life increases a reader's appreciation of the poem. The poem could be set anywhere near water, but from Carver and Gallagher's essays, letters, and other writings released after his death, Carver fans know that the poems were written in Port Angeles, Washington, in a house near the water. When the speaker steps onto the deck and says, "From there I could see and hear the water, / and everything that's happened to me all these years," readers understand that he's referring to the difficult and painful life he had while a struggling writer and an alcoholic. Carver is using "seeing" in this...