Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Charles Simic’s Country Fair captures an eerie, almost surreal vignette from an ordinary rural setting, offering a subtle commentary on human perception, absurdity, and the strange moments that stick with us. Using his characteristic understated style, Simic presents the six-legged dog as both a literal and symbolic figure, inviting readers to explore how the extraordinary is processed—and quickly normalized—by the human mind.

The poem begins with a conditional statement: “If you didn’t see the six-legged dog, / It doesn’t matter.” This opening is disarmingly casual, setting the tone for the understated absurdity that follows. The six-legged dog, an anomaly by any measure, is introduced without fanfare. Simic immediately diminishes its uniqueness by suggesting that missing such a sight is inconsequential. This creates a tension between the unusual nature of the dog and the indifferent response it provokes, reflecting how easily the human mind accommodates the bizarre when it does not directly disrupt routine.

The dog itself, lying “mostly in the corner,” becomes a muted presence rather than the center of attention. Despite the expectation that such an oddity would command the spotlight, its extra legs are dismissed with the line, “One got used to them quickly / And thought of other things.” Here, Simic underscores humanity’s capacity to acclimate to strangeness, a process that renders even the remarkable mundane. The six-legged dog, reduced to a curiosity quickly forgotten, mirrors the fleeting way we often engage with the extraordinary, letting it slip into the background as we return to more immediate concerns.

Simic contrasts the dog’s physical strangeness with the atmospheric details of the setting: “What a cold, dark night / To be out at the fair.” This shift in focus highlights the human tendency to prioritize personal experience—discomfort, environment—over the spectacle. The fair, a quintessentially communal and festive space, takes on a somber tone through Simic’s lens. The cold and darkness suggest isolation and disconnection, even in the presence of a marvel like the six-legged dog.

The brief moment of action comes when the dog’s keeper throws a stick, and the dog pursues it “on four legs, the other two flapping behind.” This grotesque image, at once comical and unsettling, elicits a strong reaction from a drunken girl who “shriek[s] with laughter.” Her reaction injects a jarring note of levity, contrasting sharply with the subdued tone of the poem and highlighting the absurdity of the scene. The laughter also serves as a release, a way of grappling with the dissonance between the familiar and the grotesque.

The drunken couple—the girl laughing and the man “kissing her neck”—introduces an element of human intimacy that contrasts with the strange spectacle of the dog. Their obliviousness to the oddity before them underscores the human capacity to filter out the surreal in favor of more immediate, visceral experiences. The girl’s laughter, though an acknowledgment of the bizarre, quickly gives way to the man’s kiss, signaling a return to the ordinary, albeit in a context tinged with absurdity.

The poem closes with an anticlimax: “The dog got the stick and looked back at us. / And that was the whole show.” This understated conclusion reflects Simic’s wry sense of humor and his philosophical stance on the nature of spectacle and meaning. The “whole show,” ostensibly built around the extraordinary six-legged dog, is reduced to a banal moment of fetch. The dog’s look back at the audience is ambiguous—perhaps expectant, indifferent, or even accusatory. In this moment, the poem seems to ask: What do we expect from the extraordinary? What does it reveal about us when our response is so tepid?

The poem’s simplicity belies its depth. The six-legged dog becomes a metaphor for the bizarre, the inexplicable, and the overlooked marvels of everyday life. Simic’s restrained narrative voice and focus on small, telling details encourage readers to reflect on their own desensitization to the strange and the miraculous. By juxtaposing the grotesque with the mundane—laughter, kisses, a stick thrown for a dog—Simic subtly critiques the human tendency to trivialize what should inspire awe.

In Country Fair, Simic invites readers to linger in the liminal space between wonder and indifference. The six-legged dog, simultaneously remarkable and forgettable, serves as a reminder of the transient nature of attention and the quiet absurdities that populate our lives. Through this snapshot of a strange night at the fair, Simic captures the peculiar mix of detachment and engagement that defines the human condition.

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