Transcript George Gray - Brookings High School Junior E

George Gray
Edgar Lee Masters
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Book of poems about a town called Spoon
River
All poems have the a person’s name as a
title
The book bears out the interactions
among the people
They are all dead
Published in 1915
Spoon River Anthology
Gray is a plain, uninteresting color
 Gray connotes age and sadness
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George Gray
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me -A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its
disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the
chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my
life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in
madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire -It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
George Gray
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me A boat with a furled sail at rest in a
harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank
from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was
afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded
the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for
meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the
sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in
madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire -It is a boat longing for the sea and yet
afraid.
I have looked at my headstone with
the picture of a sailboat in the
harbor with the sail down and
wrapped.
 This is not my final resting place,
but a picture of my life.
 I was afraid love or (the object of
my love) would not be all I
imagined so I turned away from it.
 Pain knocked at my door, but I was
not going to open myself to it.
 I had opportunities for creating
work, but I was too full of worries.
 Yet, I wanted purpose.
 But now I know I needed to risk
letting life take me where it would.
 Trying and risking can end horribly
and in madness, but not having any
meaning is torture – like a boat
build to sail – yet it never does.
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Extended metaphor comparing life to a
sailboat
 Strong words: shrank, dreaded,
hungered; afraid; and torture
 Deep regret
 Personification: ambition, sorrow, love
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Connotation
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me -A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire -It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
Shift
George Gray: Lifeless, dull,
meaningless
Gray: Neither black nor white;
vague, indecisive
Title
The poem gives a picture of
a life void of life because of
fear and timidity.
“Dare I eat a peach?”
Theme