Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Slum Lords" by John Updike is a critical commentary on the impact of the super-rich on communities, exploring themes of presence, absence, and the disruptive influence of wealth on neighborhoods. Updike uses vivid examples and stark contrasts to illustrate how wealth can alienate and disintegrate social and communal bonds.

The poem opens with a straightforward assertion: "The superrich make lousy neighbors—". This sets the tone for the critical exploration that follows, immediately positioning the super-rich as undesirable within the context of neighborhood dynamics. Updike describes how they buy houses only to tear them down and build larger ones, emphasizing their transience and lack of attachment: "and build another, twice as big, and leave." This behavior not only alters the physical landscape but also the social fabric of the area, as these wealthy individuals are rarely present to engage with the community.

"They're never there; they own so many other houses, each demands a visit." This line highlights the nomadic lifestyle of the super-rich, who move between multiple properties, thereby diluting any potential attachment or commitment to a single community. The mention of prestigious neighborhoods like "Louisburg Square in Boston or Bel Air in L.A.," once bustling with life, now compared to "Wall Street after dark or Tombstone once the silver boom went bust," evokes a sense of abandonment and decay. These comparisons to historically bustling places that became ghostly suggest that the neighborhoods, though possibly still wealthy, have lost their vitality and soul.

Updike poignantly sums up this phenomenon with the line, "The essence of superrich is absence." This encapsulates the core issue—the physical and emotional absence of the wealthy from the communities their homes are in, which signifies a deeper, more problematic type of absence: a lack of engagement, responsibility, and perhaps empathy towards the less affluent residents and the communal needs.

"They like to demonstrate they can afford to be elsewhere." Here, Updike criticizes the ostentatious nature of this wealth, which is not just displayed in what the rich own but also in their ability to disregard their properties and communities. The mobility of the super-rich is shown as a display of power, an ability to neglect roots and relationships without consequence.

"Don't let them in. Their riches form a kind of poverty." The concluding lines of the poem are a stark warning against embracing this type of wealth in communities. Updike suggests that the wealth of the super-rich brings with it a form of poverty—perhaps a poverty of community, spirit, and engagement—that detracts more than it adds.

Overall, "Slum Lords" is a reflective and incisive critique of the impact of extreme wealth on communities. Updike's use of vivid imagery, direct language, and stark contrasts serves to underscore the alienation and disruption caused by the absentee wealthy, urging a reevaluation of values and community health over mere economic status.

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