How do the central ideas of the destruction of the past and survival in the present interact within the text? the poet gives examples of how the past is preserved through memories, monuments, or transformations. the poet judges that all that was good and decent in the past has been completely destroyed. the poet alludes to the total destruction of the universe with his reference to hiroshima and the dropping of the nuclear bomb. the poet creates images to suggest humans and animals all face the same mortality.