In the Park (A By-Path). William Merritt Chase. 1890.
The Unexplorer
Edna St. Vincent Millay
There was a road ran past our house
Too lovely to explore.
I asked my mother once—she said
That if you followed where it led
It brought you to the milk-man’s door.
(That’s why I have not travelled more.)
2 thoughts on “The Unexplorer”
I don’t think I quite understand this poem.
Because the mother told her daughter where the road led, it discouraged her from exploring it further? Or is the person so captivated by the road, that that is why they haven’t explored further, different places?
On a different note, that ledge in the painting looks pretty steep. How many mothers today would let their child walk off when it’s that close? Oh, yah, sorry—there’d be a sign that says, “Keep off the fence.”
I think you understand it. As you said at the first, this poem is about the disillusionments of childhood.
It isn’t only the imaginations of children that can be threatened by humdrum reality. This poem reminded me of the chapter from Platero and I called “The Locked Gate.” Every time he went into town, the poet would gaze through the grate of a locked gate and imagine the wonderful lands that lay beyond. A man told him the gate was unlocked and invited him to pass through, but the poet could not bear to see his visions dissolved.
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I don’t think I quite understand this poem.
Because the mother told her daughter where the road led, it discouraged her from exploring it further? Or is the person so captivated by the road, that that is why they haven’t explored further, different places?
On a different note, that ledge in the painting looks pretty steep. How many mothers today would let their child walk off when it’s that close? Oh, yah, sorry—there’d be a sign that says, “Keep off the fence.”
I think you understand it. As you said at the first, this poem is about the disillusionments of childhood.
It isn’t only the imaginations of children that can be threatened by humdrum reality. This poem reminded me of the chapter from Platero and I called “The Locked Gate.” Every time he went into town, the poet would gaze through the grate of a locked gate and imagine the wonderful lands that lay beyond. A man told him the gate was unlocked and invited him to pass through, but the poet could not bear to see his visions dissolved.