Poetry Precis 17- "In the Well" by Andrew Hudgins

"In the Well" by Andrew Hugdins is a poem in which the speaker uses imagery and a tense and fearful tone to relay an experience of fear and a message about overcoming one's fears. From the first line of the poem, a clear and tense picture is painted for the reader as the speaker says his dad "clinched the rope" and there was a "noose around my waist". As the poem continues and the speaker is let down into a well, he "tasted first/ of dark, then earth, then rot", all examples of imagery that allow the reader to imagine what the speaker is feeling. The suspenseful tone of the speaker continues throughout the poem to keep the reader engaged as well as portray the atmosphere of the setting in which this poem takes place until finally, "Daddy hauled/the wet rope. I gagged, and pressed/my neighbor's missing dog/against me," at which point the reader is relieved. The ending of this poem reads "Then light. Then hands. Then breath," relaying a message through these six short words that one may overcome their challenges and fears and reemerge healthily.