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"On the move" is one of Thom Gunn's earliest published pieces, exploring modern man's sense of
alienation in the world and his lack of purpose.
A motorbike gang becomes the metaphor to explore this concept, for the bikers are a marginalised group
within society -- perhaps even feared -- and ride their motorbikes with no defined purpose or goal.
They seldom know their destination. To be on the move is enough of a goal for them.
A NOTE ON THE POET
Thomson William Gunn was born in Kent (England) in August 1929, the son of a London journalist / editor
and a mother -- whom he adored -- who was a left-wing socialite and an ex-journalist.
His parents would later divorce, whereupon his mother committed suicide when Gunn was just 15 years
of age. The impact of this event would leave an indelible mark on the young man's mind and this would
affect some of his later works.
He attended Trinity College in Cambridge, graduating with a B.A. in 1953. He recognised, however, that
he was gay and so, believing he would be ostracised in England, he and his partner moved to San
Francisco where homosexuality was more accepted.
He proceeded to Stanford University where he taught for a while, and graduated with an M.A. in 1958.
He would then earn his primary income from teaching at the University of California at Berkeley.
This, however, was mostly on a part-time basis. Although he was a charismatic lecturer, he nevertheless
resisted the temptations of pursuing a purely academic career.
Gunn is recognised as a major poet from the generation that included Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.
Indeed, many regard him as the finest of them all. He was also in love with the modern city, its speed and
its anonymity -- and this too is reflected in his poetry.
He lacked a national identity. Although he was British, he lived in the United States and learned from
modern American poetry but was never recognised as an American poet as such.
He had a relaxed manner and a raucous sense of humour. His love of vulgarity is said to have kept him
youthful. He was also said to have been outstandingly handsome, something that women noticed but to
their regret.
During the 1960s and 1970s Gunn, along with the hippies or bohemians of the age, explored the use of
drugs -- especially LSD. Indeed, he appears to have thoroughly enjoyed the bohemian lifestyle which
gave him the freedom to use drugs, practise homosexuality and, as a poet, to experiment with poetic form.
He died in April 2004 while still living in San Francisco. He was then almost 75 years of age.
Have you looked at the questions in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer the following questions:
"The blue jay scuffling in the bushes follows
Some hidden purpose, and the gush of birds
That spurts across the field, the wheeling swallows,
Have nested in the trees and undergrowth.
Seeking their instinct, or their pose, or both."
- When one views these lines within the context of the poem as a whole, what purpose do we see in the
poet's focus on the birds? (4)
[Need help?]
The poem in general reflects upon a gang of bikers as a metaphor for modern man's sense of alienation
in the world and his lack of purpose. The bikers appear to lack a recognisable goal.
The birds are presented as a direct contrast because they are ruled by instinct and therefore have a
purpose that it is defined by nature.
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- How is "some hidden purpose" displayed in the life of these birds? (4)
[Need help?]
The blue jay "scuffles in the bushes". Birds "sport across the field". The swallows wheel
in the air and nest in the trees and undergrowth.
In each case this is done through instinct, a hidden purpose that drives them.
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"One moves with an uncertain violence
Under the dust thrown by a baffled sense
Or the dull thunder of approximate words."
- What does the poet mean when he uses the word "one"? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet has probably already moved away from his focus on the birds and now introduces the
philosophical question of us humans and our quest for the meaning of life.
We could replace the word "one" with the word "you". Notice how often the poet uses the
word "one" throughout this poem? Each time we could replace it with the word "you".
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- What is this "uncertain violence"? (4)
[Need help?]
The nature of all life is violence. All animals are victims as well as propagators of this violence.
Humans, although also violent and subject to violence, have learnt to control it to come extent. Violence,
however, is still there although it is an uncertain quality and one never knows quite when it will strike.
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- What does the poet mean when he speaks of "the dull thunder of approximate
words"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet appears to be already borrowing the metaphor of the bikers. Their motorbikes create the sound
of dull thunder, at least while they are still at a distance.
This epithet "dull thunder" is then transferred to human thinking. All the time our thoughts and
words form a "dull thunder".
Indeed, there is no clarity to our thoughts, only vagueness as we attempt to understand reality. Our
thoughts and words are therefore only "approximate" thoughts and words -- a "dull thunder"
of "approximate" words.
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"On motorcycles, up the road, they come:
Small, black, as flies hanging in heat, the Boys."
- Why does the poet use the description "small, black, as flies hanging in
heat"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is describing the group of bikers as they appear in the distance.
They are all dressed in black leathers, looking from a distance like flies on the horizon, and shimmering
in the heat-induced mirage on the road.
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- If one looks for this poem on the Internet, one finds many versions which use the singular "Boy"
rather than "Boys". How do we know which version is correct? (2)
[Need help?]
The sentence in which this word appears is an inverted one: "They come . . . the Boys".
If the word "Boy" were indeed to be in the singular, then the sentence should read, "He comes
. . . the Boy".
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- Why is the word "Boys" written with an uppercase "B"? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet is using a proper noun. He wishes to emphasize that it is a GANG of "Boys".
The gang represents grown men who like to use the diminutive "Boys" to describe themselves.
This is particularly a feature of men in sports teams: "The Boys played well today" or "Friday
night is my time out with the Boys".
Women do this as well. "I am going out with the Girls tonight" and "The Girls played a good
game today."
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"Until the distance throws them forth, their hum
Bulges to thunder held by calf and thigh."
- What point is the poet making when he says that "the distance throws them
forth"? (2)
[Need help?]
It would appear that the poet is emphasizing the speed of the bikers. They are "thrown" forward
rather than "gliding" forward over the distance.
The word "thrown" also carries the idea of violence which emphasizes the violent nature of the
bikers -- at least in the eyes of the non-bikers in the poet's day.
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- Comment on the metaphor "their hum bulges to thunder held by calf and
thigh". (4)
[Need help?]
When one thinks of the old motorbikes of the late 1950s, one would notice the bulging nature of these
machines.
They were not sleek as modern motorbikes tend to be, being designed for beauty rather than
aerodynamics. Their petrol tanks (gas tanks) were therefore fat and rounded.
The motorbikes were also thunderous machines. Indeed, they were often called "thumpers"
because of the noise they made.
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