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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WALKING TOUR, by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: To throw away the key and walk away Last Line: Rocks shutting out the sky, the old life done Alternate Author Name(s): Auden, W. H. | |||
To throw aw^ay the key and walk away, Not abrupt exile, the neighbours asking why. But following a line with left and right An altered gradient at another rate Learns more than maps upon the whitewashed wall The hand put up to ask; and makes us well Without confession of the ill. All pasts Are single old past now, although some posts Are forwarded, held looking on a new view; The future shall fulfil a surer vow Not smiling at queen over the glass rim Nor making gunpowder in the top room. Not swooping at the surface still like gulls But with prolonged drowning shall develop gills. But there are still to tempt; areas not seen Because of blizzards or an erring sign Whose guessed-at wonders would be worth alleging, And lies about the cost of a night s lodging. Travellers may sleep at inns but not attach, They sleep one night together, not asked to touch; Receive no normal welcome, not the pressed lip. Children to lift, not the assuaging lap. Crossing the pass descend the growing stream Too tired to hear except the pulses' strum, Reach villages to ask for a bed in Rock shutting out the sky, the old life done. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NIGHTFALL (1) by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN ALONE (1) by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN BACH AND THE LADY by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN BETWEEN ADVENTURE by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN WHO'S WHO by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN |
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