Thom Gunn Poetry as an Epitome of Migration - Essay Example

Thomson William Gunn or more commonly known simply as Thom Gunn is one whose poetry, much like his own life, can be described as an epitome of migration at its finest. The differences between his poems “A Map of the City,” “On The Move ‘Man, You Gotta Go.’” and “In Time of Plague” are so evident that one might think, upon first glance, that they are written by completely different poets. But though his style has changed as he progressed from his beginnings as a Movement poet in England to his more liberal poetic tone as he uprooted his life and moved to San Francisco, California, certain themes and voice remains that makes his works distinctly Thom Gunn. Comparatively, the changes may be drastic but the impact of his poems remain the same and it is for this reason that he remained an influential poet throughout his lifetime and beyond. “A Map of the City” is that characteristic early work of Gunn which encapsulates why he had become a prominent name in The Movement in the 1950s. The style, incorporating the obvious rhythm and rhyme in each line, makes it in that great British tradition of classic poetry. The first stanza, in all its four lines ends with the same syllable with much stress on the ‘e’ sound. This recurs throughout the poem together with other syllabic sounds that are used regularly throughout. Also, the poem was traditionally constructed as a quatrain with four lines in each of its five stanzas. Then, with “On The Move ‘Man, You Gotta Go.’” there has been a slight deviation from the traditional meter with the use of varying rhymes but certain sounds recur such as the ‘o’ and ‘e’ sounds. There is also still that inclination to adhere to traditional form as each of the five stanzas is composed of an octave. However, though the ‘e’ and ‘th’ sounds are also repeated in “In Time of Plague,” they do not appear to be placed consciously as Gunn moves toward the free verse approach. The stanzas do not have uniformity in terms of rhyme and meter as the first stanza has 13 lines, the second has 15, the third has four, and the last has six. This shows an unrestricted adoption of poetic verse where Gunn has transformed his poetry away from the identity of The Movement toward a nonconformist standpoint. It would be amiss to talk about or even understand how the poetry of Gunn has progressed without taking into consideration the major changes he had effected in his life. In his earlier years, Gunn had already established himself as a major poet alongside Larkin and Hughes and led to the materialization of what has come to be known as The Movement (Rani 144). He then moved to San Francisco where the change in his poetic style was concurrent with the changes in his themes which is greatly influenced by his life experiences. “A Map of the City” seems much like an ode to a place where the persona shares what he sees and claims such place as his own. It uses freely the personal pronoun ‘I’ which can be attributed largely to the existentialist character adopted early on by Gunn. It is a look into the future as envisioned by the persona which can be gleaned from the use of the word ‘potential’ twice in the poem. The subject is on the notion of what men can accomplish and how they influence everything and everyone around them. Gunn writes “The crowded, broken, and unfinished!/ I would not have the risk diminished” (lines 19-20). The poem is hopeful in a sense that through the author’s tone of persistence he knows that as it stands the city is complete but it is never finished and that the future would be bright with him standing on top of it overlooking everything. There is change in the city, “into an organism pulsating with life” (Michelucci 100). “On The Move ‘Man, You Gotta Go.’” also gives focus on the subject of man from the perspective of the persona communicating his sentimental tone. It is in the form of a motto that the voice speaks on how men should never stop moving forward. The symbolisms of birds and motorcycles yield another vivid picture of the vision of the persona. Powell describes it as a love poem and a self-love poem at the same time. He points out that Gunn sees himself as one of the bikers and at the same time a spectator. The popularity of this poem, as he argues, is that there is a clear observation of social interactions simultaneous to a profound philosophical discussion (29). The poem equally demonstrates the identity of Gunn as a gay writer with the dense sexual undertones of the poem. “Small, black, as flies hanging in heat, the Boy,/ Until the distance throws them forth, their hum/ Bulges to thunder held by calf and thigh.” (10-12). The positions of the words and their usage indicate strong sexual undercurrents that when taken together point toward the homoerotic themes that had become commonplace in Gunn’s works polished when he dwelled in San Francisco. If the sexual tone is inhibited through figurative language in the second poem, the same is as clear as day in “In Time of Plague.” The poem goes, “Who are these two, these fiercely attractive men/ who want me to stick their needle in my arm?” (6-7). Not only does it unabashedly discusses homosexual seduction, with the persona being seduced and the two men the seducer, it also threads the matter of drug use and its proliferation in certain lifestyles as a common happening. This poem gives a rich insight into the very interesting and turbulent life that Gunn has lived. The flow goes as somewhat a confession and a narration. It does not apologize for but simply gives an account without need for judgment or opinion. It is an observation of human behavior. The persona takes into consideration the two other characters Brad and John and analyzes them. But in this grasp the tone changes as the speaker knows he does not have dominion over them. There remains self-preservation and that human inclination to protect one’s self in a given situation even at a time for seeking satisfaction in enchanting pleasure. Dollimore makes a good argument that Gunn had effectively combined the adverse themes of desire and death in this poem. He writes, “Gunn is right: although manifest and pervasive in Western culture, especially its art, this age-old connection of death and sexuality does become confusing when we stop to think about it” (Dollimore xii). This observes that we are molded in such a way that we do not see the connection between these two themes. Desire cannot coincide with death and vice versa. But Gunn was not only able to complement both, the main point of his poem is to demonstrate that one exists with the other. In his opening lines he writes, “My thoughts are crowded with death/ and it draws so oddly on the sexual/ that I am confused/ confused to be attracted/ by, in effect, my own annihilation (Gunn 1-5). This confusion is greatly disregarded in terms of their significance to one another. Looking at the last poem, one sees that this is also a personal anecdote which is connected with his writings regarding AIDS. Gunn has been a known gay poet and his works on the topic of AIDS has been some of the most perceptive and pragmatic ever since its prevalence during the 1980s. By the title itself, “In Time of Plague,” this can be taken as an unequivocal declaration of the disease as an epidemic and how it can easily be transferred through the acts describe in the poem. The work does not wish to explain or to deter from committing such irresponsible acts as going with strangers and using a singular intradermal needle. It just simply tells it as it is. The observation of desire coupled with the fear of death and how the two interplay as to which overcomes the other was an interesting theme in the poem. Where the first two poems are very general in their themes, the third explicates in a way that it tackles multiple themes, controversial ones at that, so effortlessly. It is undeniable that the style and themes in these three poems by Thom Gunn had been different. But while they may be diverse, Gunn’s keen sense of understanding human nature and the indication of optimism on humankind remains. He is a fearless poet and his advocacies, intentional or not, keeps his works abreast with the fact that the human spirit remains no matter what. The inherent mastery that he has for traditional English verse had only made Gunn a better free verse writer because the truth is, he is a great poet no matter what style he employs. The impact of his works lies in a great number of reasons beyond form. The substance of his themes and how he shapes these into topics which many people relate to leaves an indelible mark on any reader who commiserates on his message. Works Cited Gunn, Thom. A Map of the City. Poemhunter.com. Poem Hunter. 2005. Web. 15 April 2014. ---. In Time of Plague. Scrbd.com. Scribd. n.d. Web. 15 April 2014. ---. On The Move ‘Man, You Gotta Go.’. Poemhunter.com. Poem Hunter. 2003. Web. 15 April 2014. Dollimore, Jonathan. Introduction. Death, Desire and Loss in Western Culture. Books.google.com, 1998. Google Books. Web. 15 April 2014. Michelucci, Stefania. The Poetry of Thom Gunn: A Critical Study. Books.google.com. Google Books, 2009. Web. 15 April 2014. Rani, Sonia. “Will and Vigour in the Poetry of Thom Gunn.” International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Science. 3.3 (2013): 144-146. Web. 15 April 2014. Weiner, Joshua. At the Barriers: On the Poetry of Thom Gunn. Books.google.com. Google Books, 2009. Web. 15 April 2014. Read More