Author Question: How would you paraphrase the theme of this poem? What will be an ideal ... (Read 88 times)

neverstopbelieb · **on:** Jul 20, 2018

How would you paraphrase the theme of this poem?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Why is the attitude affirmed in the poem described as hard (line 9)?

What will be an ideal response?

karlss · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Perhaps the best way to arrive at a summation of the poems intent is to consider its separate parts. In lines 19, the speaker urges optimism and affirmation, advising the young and progresstoward to respond to the naysayers that the darkness is neither constant nor permanent. In lines 1012, she stresses living inand reaping the joys and pleasures ofthe here and now. So, putting the pieces together, we might restate the theme as follows: Live in a spirit of well-founded hope, and remember that true and lasting progress is achieved by carrying that spirit through each day, rather than by aiming for some distant and obscure goal.

Answer to Question 2

Several meanings of the term might be invoked here, all of them relevant to a greater or lesser degree. In the baseball metaphor that the poet employs, a hard home-run could be a hard-hit ball, solidly and squarely connected with, hit with power and assurance. Thematically speaking, hard most directly connotes difficult to accomplish or maintain: the secure optimism urged by the speaker is likely to be hard in this sense, given the tremendous hostility and hatred that must be overcome. But, if successful, such freedom of spirit will prove hard in yet another sense: solid, durable, built to last.