Summary

A very accomplished American poet quietly reads an issue of Newsweek magazine next to the pool in his backyard. The majority of this four-page story is taken up by a single sentence, a sentence that exhaustively details the poet's literary accomplishments and also how he is sitting in his chair by his pool. Wallace concludes the story with an extensive description of the plants and hedges that surround the poet as he sits beside the pool.

Analysis

By describing the poet's literary awards and also the poet's flabby, middle-aged body so extensively, Wallace contrasts the high-mindedness of the arts with the humble reality of the human artist.

By detailing how the poet is surrounded on all sides – on three sides by plants plus on one side by his house – in a near-silent environment, Wallace suggests that the poet has become...