Fairchild, in his poem “The Dumka”, uses a lot of contrast to help the readers personalize the known historical events of the 20th century. He accomplishes this by comparing an old couple’s past and present. Even the tittle “the Dumka”, which refers to a type of a song with many contrasting parts, hints at the extensive use of contrast in the poem. The poem begins by describing the pleasant mood when the old couple “sits alone together” (line 1) peacefully “listening to Dvorjak’s piano quintet” (line 3) while a cloud of memories swirls around them. However, the tone gradually shifts from pleasant to gloomy when they recall the events of their past. The poet captures the “dust storms of the thirties” (line 12) describing them as “smearing the sky green with doom” (line 13). Then the speaker mentions the couple’s memories of living through the bad times, such as the Great Depression and the war transition into the more positive Homecoming and postwar boom. The hardships are illustrated by “bread lines in the city” (line 23) and “men and women lining Main Street like mannequins” (line 24). The poem then shifts into better times, depicting the couple’s more prosperous years of “a new piano with … mahogany gleam” (line 38). Fairchild contrasts the couple’s past and present to imply that hard times don’t last forever because if something bad happens, good will come too. At the time of writing, the couple’s lives have slowed down. They enjoy their “slow mornings of coffee and newspapers/ and evenings of music” (lines 31-2), and smile faintly when encircled by the “music of their lives” (line 39). By strongly contrasting the times of despair and happiness, the author makes the readers personalize major events such as the War and the Homecoming.