A) A reoccurring symbol in "Polar Breath" by Diane Glancy is the cold. Glancy uses the cold as an interpretation of the overall mood of the poem and as a refection of what the main character feels. By saying, "Why didn't their little bodies freeze like ice-cubes? What kept them warm?" and by later going into detail about how the main character is feels like she is trapped in a deep depression, "She was tangled in the fishing line that went down into the cold, dark hole below her," the author shows that the cold represents more then just the weather or feeling of an object but rather the character's life. By asking, "What kept them warm?" the author shows that the character feels alone after her husband's death and is seeking a way out or the warmth rather than the cold she is surrounded by. The image of, "...birds flew from the wall. They banged at the windows get out," shows the turmoil the character feels and the struggle to hold onto her sanity. The reader sees that even though she struggles, there is little hope of escaping the cold when the sun, usually a symbol for warmth and peacefulness, remains, "wicked," in her eyes, "Now the sun shined its wicked and beautiful pattern on the kitchen window." The character believes that spirits surround her, "...the spirits that got loose when it was cold," and ,"She decided the spirits left it there." Her belief stems from the death of her husband and again represent the idea of being surrounded by something she cannot control.
B) "Polar Breath" by Diane Glancy uses the feeling of being surrounded by the cold as a way to represent suffocation and the attempt to fight one's way out of depression. In the work, a woman is delusional and has continuous visions of being surrounded and trapped under or with something she cannot control like, ""She was tangled in the fishing line that went down into the cold, dark hole below her," and, "Now they were wrapping her house in cellophane." She struggles to see the warmth in the sunlight, "Now the sun shined its wicked and beautiful pattern on the kitchen window," and feels the cold constantly, "She needed to work her fingers. They felt blue and cold." The author uses the birds as a representation of tying to escape her depression, "Inside her head, birds flew from the wall. They banged at the windows get out." But the further her mind strays from reality, "She felt like she was walking barefoot across the ice to him. She fought to hold onto the counter," the further she sinks into her depression until it consumes her, "She reached for the finger she saw at the glass. But the icehole burped like her old husband in his chair and the frigid water closed her up."
