The Armadillo

The title of “The Armadillo,” in its original The New Yorker publication, includes the tagline “Brazil.” Brazil is also a section title in Questions of Travel, which is the first book that features “The Armadillo.” These titles indicate that the poem is about a place that the speaker—the poet—visited, and that the poem is a piece of travel literature. The poem focuses on a festival season, Festa Junina, which includes several days dedicated to saints, such as St. John’s Day (Festa de São João). During the Brazilian celebrations in June, fire balloons are released.

The first two stanzas of the poem indicate that it is about the celebrations for St. John and other saints. The celebration is seasonal, or a “time of year” (Line 1). Catholic calendars include days dedicated to saints, as well as to Christ. For instance, St. John’s celebrations are in the month of June, which is winter in the Southern hemisphere. St. John is a “saint / still honored in these parts” (Lines 5-6)—that is, in Brazil. The first two stanzas also use imagery to show the reader what the “frail, illegal fire balloons” (Line 3) used in the celebrations for saints in Brazil look like. Their “paper chambers” (Line 7) may remind readers of paper lanterns. Fire balloons are part of the fireworks displays in June for St. John, as well as other saints that are part of the Festa Junina (June celebrations). The speaker compares the “chambers flush[ed] and fill[ed] with light / that comes and goes” (Lines 7-8) to the chambers of the heart pulsing with blood. Fire within the balloons is “like hearts” (Line 8). This simile (comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as”) develops an emotional connection that the people who release the balloons have to them and therein offers A Sense of Place.

In Stanzas 3 and 4, the imagery surrounding the fire balloons changes from the blood moving in “hearts” (Line 8) to celestial objects. They rise so high that it is hard to distinguish them from stars and “Venus going down, or Mars” (Line 12). The speaker, however, corrects this initial statement about stars: The fire balloons are more like the celestial objects that are closer to the earth—the planets in our solar system. Stars are much further away than “the pale green” (Line 13) planet. Additionally, the fire balloons move into regions of the sky that are defined by constellations that can only be seen in the Southern hemisphere. The balloons travel to the “the kite sticks of the Southern Cross” (Line 16). This constellation links the balloons with the location that they are released from on Earth. This develops the theme of The Interactions Between Humans and Nature. At first, the human-crafted balloons mix with natural celestial objects.

In Stanzas 4 and 5, the speaker tracks the path of the fire balloons. They can be moved by the wind in a variety of ways—it can cause them to “flare and falter, wobble and toss” (Line 14). This beautiful illustration of The Interactions Between Humans and Nature is emphasized with the alliteration (repeated first letter sound) of F in flare and falter. However, the wind can cause the fire balloons to become “dangerous” (Line 20). If they are caught “in the downdraft from a peak” (Line 19), they can cause fires in the mountainous region. The descriptions of wind offer A Sense of Place, giving the reader an idea of the mountain-adjacent climate in Brazil. These descriptions also develop one negative side effect of The Interactions Between Humans and Nature—humans causing fires in the mountains. The poem has a turn, or volta, in Line 20 when the negative effects of the fire balloons are discussed. The poem has a darker tone after this turn in the middle of the poem.

In the Stanzas 6 and 7, the destructive power of the fire balloons is described using avian (bird) imagery and by showing the actual effects of the fire balloons on birds that live near the launch site. Birds are initially part of a simile describing when a fire balloon “splattered like an egg of fire” (Line 22). The fire balloons are large and white, indeed shaped like “an egg” (Line 22). Eggs are often described as splattered and near fire when being cooked. Thus, the imagery here links eggs (and birds) to The Interactions Between Humans and Nature through figurative language. Then, the real-world effects of the fire balloons on “the pair // of owls who nest there” (Lines 24-25) are described. Setting the trees where the owls’ nest on fire causes them to fly away and disrupts the balance of nature on the mountain. Like the rising fire balloons, the birds fly “up / and up” (Lines 25-26). However, the birds are forced to leave their nest in response to humans choosing to release the fire balloons. The birds traveling “out of sight” (Line 28) changes the natural landscape and ecological balance in the area. This also develops A Sense of Place.

In the Stanzas 8 and 9, the poem moved on to show the effects of the balloons on other animals—including the titular armadillo. The speaker notes how the “ancient owls’ nest must have burned” (Line 29). The fire balloons not only force the owls to leave their nest, but also destroy their nest so they cannot return. The diction (word choice) of “ancient” emphasizes how the owls have been on the mountain much longer than the people who release the fire balloons, again reminding the reader of the potential negative outcomes from The Interactions Between Humans and Nature. The scenery changes as the owls, the armadillo, and the rabbit leave, and A Sense of Place is disrupted. Life on the mountain is altered by the fires that humans start. The speaker uses similar colors when describing the owls and armadillo: the former has “bright pink” (Line 27) on their underside, and the latter is “rose-flecked” (Line 32). The pink and rosy colors can be compared with the red of the fire and of “Mars” (Line 12). While the colors are in the same range of hues (pink is red mixed with white), pink represents vulnerability of the bodies of the animals, while red fire represents a destructive force.

In the final stanza, which is italicized, the speaker reiterates that while the fire balloons are beautiful, they are dangerous. They are “[t]oo pretty, dreamlike mimicry!” (Line 37). Humans are so caught up in the beauty of the balloons that they overlook the beauty that already existed in nature, causing a negative interaction between humans and nature.

With this in mind, the speaker ends the poem on a note of revolt and helplessness. The final image is a “weak mailed fist / clenched ignorant against the sky!” (Lines 39-40). The fist is not described as strong, but helpless and unaware. The clenched fist, belonging to the armadillo, symbolically represents anger and a lack of power. The armadillo is personified in that it is covered in mail, which was a protective covering used by knights. The anger represented by the fist comes from the inability to stop humans from releasing the fire balloons and, metaphorically, the inability to stop humans from dropping weapons.