Fear in the Cellar Stairs Poetry is about emotion: not just the emotion displayed in the many layers of a poem's language, but also the emotional layers created in the reader. Some poems can be light and happy, other poems can be ecstatic and ethereal; and at the other extreme, poetry can be dark and downright threatening. One such poem is contemporary poet Thomas Lux's "Cellar Stairs." "It's wobbly until dark," the first line states. The poem begins with an image of darkness, aggravated by the feeling of instability ("shaky"). The lack of a physical space or area makes us feel disoriented and ungrounded. All we know is that we are going into “darkness”. The sound of the language itself contributes to the feeling. Starting with the “hee” sound of “It’s” and “stunted,” the vocal frequency itself also shifts downward, to the “ow” of “down” and “ah” of “dark.” they move downward, but the words themselves also move downward. Down, of course, is where the threat lies: the generally accepted location of Hell. The second and third lines produce a feeling of real fear. The skates hang down (2) , which gives us an image of dangling objects, hangman style. Not only that, however, but the skates have long blades. Not short, or curved, but long - menacingly long the larger the weapon; also damage. The third line cements the threat: "...I want to cut your throat." The long dangling blades are now considered weapons capable of inflicting specific physical damage. Further personification given by... middle of paper.. ....ge, the way the words sound, the way they feel in my mouth when I say them: it all contributes to a sense of foreboding, a sense of fear. Will I be able to go back upstairs one more time? This poem exists on two very different levels. On the one hand, the speaker is a child, sent to the dark and scary basement for a bag of frozen vegetables. But on the other, more sinister side, the very obvious correlations between the dark basement and Hell are intended directly to terrify and intimidate the reader. It's not easy to be afraid these days. This poem does an admirable job of making itself engaging and scary in less than half a page. The intent is achieved.Works CitedLux, Thomas. "Cellar stairs." Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry. Ed. John Frederick Nims and Charles Mason. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000. 541-542.