Philosophy: Time and Poem Essay examples

Submitted By izzy6784635
Words: 325
Pages: 2

The Salt Flats:

Here clove the keels of centuries ago Where now unvisited the flats lie bare. Here seethed the sweep of journeying waters, where
No more the tumbling flats of Fundy flow,
And only in the samphire pipes creep slow The salty currents of the sap. The air Hums desolately with wings that seaward fare,
Over the lonely reaches beating low.
The wastes of hard and meagre weeds are thronged
With murmurs of a past that time has wronged; And ghosts of many an ancient memory
Dwell by the brackish pools and ditches blind,
In these low-lying pastures of the wind, These marshes pale and meadows by the sea. (99)

This poem interests me because it is the contrast between the past and the present. In the past, everything was grander and nature was able to thrive before humans invaded their space hence the first two lines of the poem. Then, reading down the poem, the writing begins to become dreary and depressing when the author describes the present. In the present, with its “blackish pools” and wastes of hard and meager weeds” Roberts is painting a picture in our minds full of filth and disgust because of how the environment has tuned out. Also, this poem contains many similes, such as when it says, “the air hums desolately” , this is an example of him bringing wind to life and giving it human like characteristics. This poem is portraying the way that the human kind is treating the environment and therefore we should