Is It All In Vain?
Is It All In Vain?
Experimental scientific observations inside a laboratory
Consequential specific consecrations that combine to form a sacred story
Monumental consternations that speak beyond the allegory
Environmental commiserations as the situations become horrifically gory
Enigmatic explanations that just want to prove a point for advertisement
Autodidactic communications as they smoke another joint in aggrandisement
Problematic calculations shifting infinite decimal points in disenchantment
Autocratic altercations as the population hits breaking-point from another commandment
Unpretentious indescribable humility on unintentional display
Conscientious undefinable lamenting formed along the way
Pestilentious pathological plagues air born that will not go away
A mixed consensus of radiological waves that have too much to say
Accidentally taking for granted moments where there’s slight relief from pain
Fundamentally existing in silence while hiding from the acid rain
Instrumentally resisting all the violence as you’re called upon to abstain
Transcendently persisting through the past tense in the hope that it won’t be all in vain.
The End By Elizabeth Moroz
Review and Poetic Analysis of Is It All In Vain? by Elizabeth Moroz
Elizabeth Moroz’s Is It All In Vain? is a searing, urgent, and rhythmically intense meditation on the human condition, viewed through the prism of science, politics, technology, and spirituality. At once elegiac and defiant, it confronts the existential anxieties of our era with a richly alliterative and intellectually layered voice. This poem deserves attention not only for its craft but for the depth of its engagement with the crises of the contemporary world.
?? Stylistic and Poetic Devices
The poem is tightly structured with consistent quatrains, each line packed with internal rhyme, consonance, and alliteration:
“Experimental scientific observations inside a laboratory?Consequential specific consecrations that combine to form a sacred story”
This opening stanza sets a tone of mechanistic ritual, hinting at the paradox of science as both savior and destructor, a theme that threads through the rest of the work. The use of multisyllabic and Latinate language – “autodidactic,” “problematic,” “pestilentious” – heightens the intellectual rigor of the verse, while still allowing for emotional resonance.
The poem’s relentless rhythm and heavy diction create a sense of breathless urgency, almost mimicking the overwhelming barrage of crises in modern life. The rhyme and meter evoke a drumbeat, a heartbeat, or even a countdown—each stanza building tension until the final release.
?? Thematic Depth
This is not poetry that shies away from grand themes. Moroz takes on:
* Science and ethics: “Experimental scientific observations” juxtaposed with “sacred story” suggests a tension between empirical objectivity and spiritual or moral narratives.
* Sociopolitical decay: “Autocratic altercations,” “advertisement,” and “commandment” echo the media-industrial-political complex and its role in systemic collapse.
* Environmental catastrophe: Lines like “environmental commiserations” and “hiding from the acid rain” root the poem in ecological awareness, suggesting the Anthropocene as a silent character throughout.
* Mental/emotional endurance: The closing stanza’s focus on persistence—“Transcendently persisting through the past tense”—is profound, offering a quiet but powerful hope amid despair.
What elevates the poem is that its bleakness is not nihilistic; rather, it is a plea for meaning, a spiritual persistence in the face of entropy.
?? Place in Contemporary Poetry and Global Relevance
Is It All In Vain? occupies a compelling niche within contemporary poetry. It aligns with the politically engaged works of poets like Claudia Rankine or Jorie Graham, while also recalling the apocalyptic grandeur of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. Yet Moroz’s voice is distinctly her own—philosophical, modern, and unflinchingly perceptive.
On the global stage, the poem resonates with universal themes: environmental collapse, political extremism, technological overload, and the search for personal and collective redemption. It speaks to a generation grappling with inherited chaos, using poetry as both witness and weapon.
? Final Thoughts
Elizabeth Moroz’s Is It All In Vain? is a tour de force of poetic intelligence and emotional resonance. It is at once cerebral and visceral, a poem that dares to ask not only if our actions have meaning, but whether endurance itself can be a form of salvation.
Its layered complexity and rhythmic sophistication place it comfortably among the most important poetic commentaries of our time. It deserves wide reading, deep study, and a place in any serious anthology of 21st-century verse.
A haunting, necessary poem. Not all is in vain—this poem proves that.
Copyright ©
Elizabeth Moroz
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