Carl Sandburg

From the Shore

From the Shore - meaning Summary

Solitary Flight Into Darkness

The poem sketches a solitary bird flying into night and sea as a symbol of bold, isolated venture. The speaker watches the bird plunge through fog, wind, and storm—drawn by the thrill of flight despite mortal danger. Imagery emphasizes vastness, risk, and freedom: the bird’s motion across borders of foam and tide suggests transcendence, courage, and the small creature's confrontation with an immense, indifferent world.

Read Complete Analyses

A lone gray bird, Dim-dipping, far-flying, Alone in the shadows and grandeur's and tumults Of night and the sea And the stars and storms. Out over the darkness it wavers and hovers, Out into the gloom it swings and batters, Out into the wind and the rain and the vast, Out into the pit of a great black world, Where fogs are at battle, sky-driven, sea-blown, Love of mist and rapture of flight, Glories of chance and hazards of death On its eager and palpitant wings. Out into the deep of the great dark world, Beyond the long borders where foam and drift Of the sundering waves are lost and gone On the tides that plunge and rear and crumble.

default user
PoetryVerse just now

Feel free to be first to leave comment.

8/2200 - 0