The Armadillo

The title of “The Armadillo,” in its original The New Yorker publication, includes the tagline “Brazil.” Brazil is also a section title in Questions of Travel, which is the first book that features “The Armadillo.” These titles indicate that the poem is about a place that the speaker—the poet—visited, and that the poem is a piece of travel literature. The poem focuses on a festival season, Festa Junina, which includes several days dedicated to saints, such as St. John’s Day (Festa de São João). During the Brazilian celebrations in June, fire balloons are released.

The first two stanzas of the poem indicate that it is about the celebrations for St. John and other saints. The celebration is seasonal, or a “time of year” (Line 1). Catholic calendars include days dedicated to saints, as well as to Christ. For instance, St. John’s celebrations are in the month of June, which is winter in the Southern hemisphere. St. John is a “saint / still honored in these parts” (Lines 5-6)—that is, in Brazil. The first two stanzas also use imagery to show the reader what the “frail, illegal fire balloons” (Line 3) used in the celebrations for saints in Brazil look like.