Rukeyser’s The Book of the Dead combines various forms of writing to be able to create a powerful and immersive narrative. She combines testimony, history, travel writing, ethnography, and scientific language in the first group of poems, and this shows how poetry can go beyond traditional boundaries. Jonathan Culler’s ideas about literature show that poetry isn’t just about beauty or style but also about a way to explore and record experiences. Culler explains that literature changes how we see language, helping readers think about topics in new and intricate ways. Rukeyser uses scientific and legal ideas in her poetry to achieve this. With this, she makes us face the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel disaster not just as a distant event in the past but as a real experience filled with hurt and unfairness. The Book of the Dead is not just a collection of different types of writing; it works as poetry because of how Rukeyser organizes and shapes the voices within it. She uses closeness, rhythm, and repetition to make the facts more emotional. For example, the cold and technical language about chemicals like silica dust and its harmful side effects stands in sharp contrast to the personal stories of those affected. This huge difference demonstrates the dehumanization at the core of industrial exploitation. This mix of discourses makes readers think about the tragedy logically and emotionally. Instead of just listing facts like an unbiased report, Rukeyser makes us feel the discomfort of the workers and the neglect that caused their deaths. Her writing is poetry and a political statement, using literature to emphasize the issues and call for justice.

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