Toward the Space Age
Toward the Space Age - meaning Summary
Protecting Human Unpredictability
The poem argues that progress must not make life sterile or overcontrolled. As humanity moves toward a technological future, the speaker insists on preserving air, color, private thought, dreams, weather, surprise, play, and ordinary affection. These seemingly unnecessary experiences are presented as essential supports for mental and emotional life. The poem values a future that carries human spontaneity and connection forward rather than treating them as burdens.
Read Complete AnalysesWe must begin to catch hold of everything around us, for nobody knows what we may need. We have to carry along the air, even; and the weight we once thought a burden turns out to form the pulse of our life and the compass for our brain. Colors balance our fears, and existence begins to clog unless our thoughts can occur unwatched and let a fountain of essential silliness out through our dreams. And oh I hope we can still arrange for the wind to blow, and occasionally some kind of shock to occur, like rain, and stray adventures no one cares about -- harmless love, immoderate guffaws on corners, families crawling around the front room growling, being bears in the piano cave.
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