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READ THIS
"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:
"Bulges to thunder held by calf and thigh."
- There is a distinct sexual image hidden in this line. Can you identify it? (4)
[Need help?]
In many ways, the motorbike represents an outlet for sexual display. Men tend to think they are men when
riding a motorbike.
Notice the word "bulges". Although it refers to the large, rounded petrol tank (gas tank), it probably
also hints at the very tight fitting "stove-pipe" pants which men often wore in those days, which
allowed men to bulge so as to show the world how manly they were.
The motorbike itself is held "by calf and thigh" -- appearing as a metaphor for a most impressive
large metal male sex organ with which to wow the women.
By the way, you probably won't be asked a question on this one in your exams.
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"In goggles, donned impersonality,
In gleaming jackets trophied with the dust,
They strap in doubt -- by hiding it, robust --
And almost hear a meaning in their noise."
- What point is the poet making when he speaks of "donned impersonality"? (4)
[Need help?]
The whole purpose of being part of a gang is to suppress one's own personality. One becomes part of
a hive mentality, where all look and do what the hive demands.
All meld their personalities into one. Even their faces and eyes look the same, no longer distinguishable,
each lost behind the identical goggles.
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- The poet mentions the motorbikes, the jackets and the goggles. Why does he not mention crash
helmets? (2)
[Need help?]
There was no law back then making crash helmets compulsory, so very few people wore them. Indeed,
Americans even today appear to value their brains far less than other nations do. If movies are to be
believed, many bikers in America still appear to ride without a crash helmet.
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- Why should the gleaming jackets be "trophied with the dust"? (2)
[Need help?]
Decorated soldiers wear medals of valour to reflect their heroism but bikers simply wear the dust gathered
over the miles of travel to show off their valour of risking their lives on these machines.
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"Exact conclusion of their hardiness
Has no shape yet, but from known whereabouts
They ride, directions where the tires press.
They scare a flight of birds across the field."
- What does the poet mean when he says, "Exact conclusion . . . has no shape yet, but . . . [the]
directions where the tires press"? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet has reached the focus of his poem. The bikers have no stated objective. They are simply riding,
allowing their tyres to determine which way they will go, what their objective is.
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- Is there a message in the words, "They scare a flight of birds across the
field"? (4)
[Need help?]
In one sense, the poet is merely speaking of a reality: the thunder of the motorbikes scares the birds away
(i.e. the birds mentioned in Stanza 1).
On the other hand, the poet is pointing to the scary nature of the biker gang. Such a gang drawing up in
a town was likely to be treated with deep suspicion and fear on the part of the non-bikers.
Even today, the presence of hundreds of bikers at the Buffalo Rally causes trepidation. Many
municipalities make them most unwelcome.
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"Men manufacture both machine and soul,
And use what they imperfectly control
To dare a future from the taken routes."
- One of the prescribed anthologies provides this commentary on the poem: "Humans make
amazing machines . . . and even think they can make souls too." Is this actually what the poet is
saying? (2)
[Need help?]
No, not at all. Indeed, the poet says that men DO manufacture both machine and souls -- not that they
think they can make their souls.
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- In what way might men manufacture their souls? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is speaking of the search for meaning in life. It is this search which defines our spirit, which
creates our souls.
The poet is not looking at this in terms of religion but rather in the philosophical sense -- what is called
today the "existential" nature of the spirit. We are aware of our alienation from the world and from
society. We search for the meaning of life.
Modern man, the poet says, invents -- or chooses as a deliberate act of the will -- definitions of
personality and lifestyle. This is our soul. And it is in this sense that we create our soul.
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- What is it that men "imperfectly control"? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet could be referring to the motorbike. He could also be referring to our souls, at least to that part
of our souls which we create. He could also be referring to life in general. What else?
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- How do the bikers "dare a future from the taken routes"? (2)
[Need help?]
This is the essence of the poet's message: our life is out of control. We appear to be lost in the sea of
life, without a destination. At least, he says, the bikers are challenging a destination even though they still
do not know what it is.
But he says in the next stanza that this is only part of the solution.
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