Many thanks for all the comments about this poem.
Gary, I originally had 'hauled hard cargo' rather than dragged, but I
changed it to dragged as I thought the repetition would enforce the fact
that they dragged and then were dragged--but I think you're right that it
doesn't work, so I have gone back to 'hauled'
Bob,I think the 'Perhaps' is essential to the poem,as it's expositional
enough, and needs the maybe there.
The reason I wouldn't cut out 'unnecessary' words, according to the
modern scraping trend, is that it would be completely wrong for the voice of
the poem. The narrator, for me, is someone who likes the sound of his own
voice and who would never clip his speech.
Kind regards,
grasshopper
Shackleton's dogs
This is the nature of the hero:
After the dogs have burst their hearts
dragging hard cargo
across the burning snow,
they were dragged,
whining, yelping,
one by one
shot, skinned
and eaten.
The heroic soul
has little room for compassion;
it is lumbered too full
with ambition, certainty
and the unconquered distance.
Perhaps heroes,
being bred of gods,
demonstrate to us
the icy set of divinity,
the very nature of the beast.
grasshopper
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