Thursday, October 16, 2008
Stone in the middle of the road
When I first read this poem I thought of a pebble in the middle of the road. I thought that Drummond could have maybe been referring to the simple things in life, but that more I thought about it the less I liked that idea. The stone was clearly an important event as it takes up nearly the whole poem and he even states "I shall never forget that event / in the life of my so tired eyes." The stone being such a large event is more likely an obstacle that he had to overcome at some point and is now weary from it. He grew up in a mining village but got to go to pharmaceutical school which he never used. He instead ended up working for the government. This could maybe be the stone in his road, having to adapt to a completely new environment outside of his home and learning new things only not to use them. If your going to put the effort into learning something it seems that you would want to use your new skill, this would be a reason to have the "tired eyes" since he is watching his efforts go unused.
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4 comments:
As I was reading this poem, I was intrigued by the way Drummond used the same sentence throughout the poem but vhanges the structure of it as the poem continued. I dont necessarily think he is literally refering to the stone in the middle of the road, instead he uses it to describe an obstacle, like you said Oliver. I feel that by changing the structure of the sentences, the poet is trying to convey the idea that a plan or an event change so suddenley, and can change in many different forms. His tired eyes can refer to his efforts, but I dont necessarily think he thinks his efforts go unused. When things dont go as planned, you can get tired, which is maybe what the poet is conveying in this line.
I hadn't really considered the changing sentence structure. It seems rather obvious that it is important now and I would agree with you in saying that it may be reflective of the events in life changing.
I feel that him saying the same words in different order was reflective of what Drummond was actually conveying. It was not what he said. It was not what he said, it was how he said it Drummond could have just as easily said there is a big rock in the middle of a lake. It wouldn't matter what he said. The syntax-based style in the poem was important in that era of poetry; other poets were doing similar things with their works.
I took this poem differently as I thought that the structure of the poem represented the repetitiveness of life. These "chorus" lines seem to show the different ways life presents itself and how it varies slightly. I do agree with the middle section being a turning point, but I do not agree that he is wary afterwards, because the "chorus" lines don't change in the last half.
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