Judgment

The majority of the poem consists of the speaker’s judgmental observations concerning the dirty station and its workers. Beginning with the opening line “Oh, but it is dirty!” the speaker communicates her disgusted critique. The “oh” adds extra emphasis and gives the speaker a pompous and fussy tone. This pomposity is later communicated in the lines, “(Embroidered in daisy stitch / with marguerites, I think, / and heavy with gray crochet)” (31-33). The parenthesis and the phrase “I think” show that the speaker cannot help but insert her opinion, on which she places great importance.

It is not entirely clear if the critique solely concerns the physical dirtiness or if it extends to immorality. For example, in the first stanza, the speaker characterizes the dirtiness as “a disturbing, over-all / black translucency” (4-5). The word “disturbing” in particular has moral implications, and also implies a fear of contagion...