
What makes desire so powerful? This piece uses a descriptive writing style to show the readers the things living organisms desire bring them closer to death in order to demonstrate it is nature of living things to always want more. 

Doyle starts the poem off by talking about hummingbirds. He uses a descriptive writing style to elaborate on how much they desire flying. In the text, Doyle uses imagery to put a description into the reader’s minds. Doyle talks about the size of a hummingbird’s heart being smaller than a pencil eraser. He later goes on to talk about how they can fly for long periods of time, without rest. But when they do come to rest, they are close to the end of their lives. Doyle makes it clear a hummingbird’s desire is to fly. “They can fly more than five hundred miles without pausing to rest. But when they come close to death: on frigid nights, or when they are starving, they retreat into torpor,” Doyle writes. Torpor is a state of physical or mental inactivity. When these hummingbirds do not get what they desire most, the ability to fly, they start to shut down. Doyle brings a negative sense to the readers, by using the word torpor. The word puts an image in the reader’s mind, of uselessness or the inability to go on with life. In the next following paragraphs, Doyle elaborates more, on how much hummingbirds really suffer due to their desire to fly. “The price of their ambition is a life closer to death; they suffer more heart attacks and aneurysms and ruptures than any other living creature. It’s expensive to fly. You burn out,” Doyle writes. In the end of that quote, Doyle says, “You burn out.” With that sentence, Doyle is not only referring to hummingbirds, he is referring to all living creatures. When living creatures do not get what they desire, they fall into torpor, or the inability to go on with life. Later on in the paragraph, Doyle goes on to say that each living creature has about two billion heartbeats. “You can spend them slowly, like a tortoise and live to be two hundred years old, or you can spend them fast, like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old.” The word fast here means to go after desire. He is stating that by going after the things living organisms desire the most, they are shortening their life. Tortoise are slow moving animals that do not much more than eat every day. Doyle is clearly relating back to the main message of the piece, and showing how going after the things we desire most brings us closer to death, but it is the nature of living creatures to want more, just as hummingbirds continue to fly even though it hurts them inside. 

Blue whales are the next subject Doyle begins to talk about. As he did with hummingbirds, he starts off by talking about the unique hearts that blue whales hold inside their enormous bodies. Later on in the paragraph, Doyle speaks about how next to nothing is known by humans about blue whales after their puberty. Doyle goes on to say, “But we know this: the animals with the largest hearts in the world generally travel in pairs, and their penetrating moaning cries, their yearning tongue, can be heard underwater for miles and miles.” Although they travel in pairs, meaning they most likely have a significant other, they still yearn. Yearning is a feeling of intense longing for something. By using the word penetrating, Doyle makes the reader feel how deep and sad their moaning cries really are. These whales still cry and have a feeling for something more. Simply, why is that? Doyle is stating it is never enough for us, living creatures, it is in our nature to always want more. To develop his message, Doyle continues on into the next paragraph. Doyle uses a descriptive writing style to inform the reader of all the types of hearts that belong to the various creatures of the earth. He talks about how unicellular organisms don’t even have hearts, but they have fluids constantly moving inside of them.” We all churn inside,” Doyle notes. Doyle continues to repeat the main message of the piece. To churn, it means move around vigorously. By saying “we all churn inside,” he is saying we will never fully be satisfied on the inside. Our thoughts and feelings are constantly changing, and we will always want more, it is in our nature as living organisms. 

In the final paragraph, Doyle becomes very descriptive of how human’s desire for love can be the thing that brings us closer to death. Doyle states, “You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can and down it comes in an instant.” Doyle is portraying the heart as something that is meant to be broken over time. We desire love and it brings us closer to death more than we realize. Doyle’s usage of words gives the reader a dark and depressing connotation of love. Doyle makes the reader depressed with this quote, like he had just had his heart ripped out by a woman. After having their heart broken, they then follow with being put into a state of torpor. Doyle’s bigger picture is clearly backed up by his words and makes the readers feel how sad and miserable our desires can make living organisms feel. 

Doyle uses a descriptive writing style throughout the poem to show us the things we desire bring us closer to death to illustrate it is the nature of living creatures to always want more. Doyle’s writing is straightforward in this poem in order to really drive his points home. His use of diction gives the readers a great idea of his message, and keeps the reader interested throughout the poem. Doyle uses short and choppy sentences at times to illustrate to the readers that life flows and changes throughout time. Doyle uses deep and powerful words to show the readers how deep and dark life can be at times when you don’t receive the things you desire. His imagery also presents a perfect image of just how dark and deep it can be as well. Doyle makes his readers feel the pain and misery of individuals, with his wide variety of diction. Although, the things we desire bring us closer to death, it is the nature of living things to always want more. 
