On the Move - Thom Gunn - Poem Summary

Introduction:

This poem, from Gunn's second collection, is his most famous piece, and among the best-known of all post-war poems. In it, the aimless, but threatening movement of a motorcycle gang becomes a metaphor for modern man's sense of alienation and lack of purpose. In On the Move, Gunn uses a series of connected metaphors, all deriving from the key image of movement.

A Sociological "footnote of the fifties":

The poem is a sociological footnote of the fifties. The young black-jacketed motor cyclists of the west become fitting symbols of restless energy and violent movement. The subtitle of the poem, "Man, you gotta go" denotes the unwillingness and inability to stand still. It is the epigraph to the poem.

In the first stanza, Gunn briefly introduces the general premise of the poem, that is, always to be on the move. The bird of the crow family, the blue jay, with its gay plumage, with its confused movements, is also always on the move, following some hidden purpose.

The aimlessness of the motor-cycle gang:

The depiction of "the boys" in the second stanza seems sympathetic (they are seen very much as they wish to be seen, bikes, goggles, leather jackets) yet Gunn also views them critically. Gunn uses the analogy (parallel) of the actions of the motorcyclists to show how modern man in general (in the poem, referred to as "one") lacks a clear sense of purpose and thus follows others, even if their activity too, is ultimately purposeless. They are unable and unwilling to keep still. They have replaced language with noise, and pursue their hidden purpose forward.

The statement that men "manufacture both machine and soul" is developed in the reference, later, to the "self-defined" and the "created will". It examines the idea that modern man invents or chooses, as a deliberate act of will, definitions of lifestyle and personality, to supply what nature has omitted.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Gunn shows how the bikers' activity, because it is only a "part solution" leaves the central existential problem still open, whether there is a solution or only a "part solution" to man's lack of purpose. Thus, for Gunn, man's life is a struggle in which, through action, kind of victory is won in defeat. The poem can be understood in three ways: as an example for the poet's heroic stance; as a sociological footnote of the fifties, and as a beautifully finished piece of imaginative writing.

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