erbowls. Who would have thought of a pair of eyes as a container of water? However, this comparison works because eyes are containers of tears and that is what the poem is describing. Harper then takes this metaphor further by adding in the matchsticks, “…her eyes two matchsticks in a bowl of water,” which he compared to a pair of eyes so tightly shut, “like a mussel clamped into darkness,” that they are reduced to a mere slit which resemble matchsticks. In addition the simile “like a mussel clamped into darkness” which Harper uses to describe the tightly shut eyes is a very effective comparison because mussels are very known for their unyielding strength to hold their shell shut, it is one of nature’s defensive mechanisms. And in a way, Harper is also associating this idea of the defense mechanism when he compares the sad eyes to the mussels --- it closes itself to separate itself from the outside world and to protect itself from getting hurt. With Harper’s use of the metaphor, simile, and concrete details, the poem, “The Waterbowl” succeeds in creating the image of “there is no love in those eyes, only loss, pregnant with intelligent shame.”...
