Nothing in "Carnival" settles into a single clear scene, and that seems to be the point. A group of people sit drinking from "a great udder," a strange image that turns the carnival into something almost animal, or maternal. While they drink, they watch "the several engines at work," which suggests rides or machinery, though the poem never says so outright. One of these is "one round thing / going with a pair / of stairs round," a dizzying picture that sounds like a carousel or Ferris wheel.
The ending is the oddest moment: something "round as a reed" cries "to see / a mother where / we drank." Judging by the imagery, the speaker seems to be noticing a link between comfort, nourishment, and spectacle. The mood is dreamlike and slightly unsettling, playful on the surface but touched by sadness. The repeated "round" gives the poem a spinning feel, as if the reader is on the ride too, never quite sure where the ground is.