Stranger in the Room

David Ferry's poem At the Hospital is just two lines long, with ten syllables per line. Still, despite its short length, it is one of the most powerful pieces of modern poetry one can read. I could paraphrase the poem, but I feel it would take more words to do that than it would to just reprint the poem here, in its entirety: "She was the sentence the cancer spoke at last, / Its blurred grammer finally clarified." What has presumably happened in the poem is that a female the author most likely cares for has contracted cancer, and, likely, has died from it.

The idea that the female in question died from the cancer is justifiable for three reasons, two within the poem and one within the title. The first reason within the poem is the last part of the first line. When Ferry says the cancer "spoke at last" it induces the feeling of a finality, that is, if you place emphasis on the word "last." The second reason is the last part of the second line, where it says the cancer's grammar was "finally clarified." The word "clarified" also induces a sense that things are done, taken care of, or finished, especially when paired with the preceding word "finally." The last justification for the belief that the poem's female subject has died is in the title, "At the Hospital." It seems highly unlikely that the author would write a poem such as this and title it as such if the female in question were just, say, diagnosed with cancer. Otherwise why would his being "at the hospital" be so important and relevant that he would make it the title of his poem?

As to the identity of the female in question, a tragic romantic such as myself would have little trouble assuming it to be either the author's wife or love-interest, though it could easily be his daughter, mother, or simply a female friend. Regardless of whom it was to the author, the brevity of the poem gives it a shock value that automatically causes the reader to relate it to him or herself personally, and that gives the poem power by engaging the audience emotionally.

Source:

Ferry, David. "At the Hospital." Strangers: A Book of Poems. University of Chicago, 1983.