The Cyclist Poem Essay Example

We feel as if the cyclist is one with nature and that it is his true home.

This sense adds to the joy we feel the cyclist. Yet he “grasps the summer,” which hints to the reader that the child is desperate to keep hold of summer and his period of recreation. The second stanza explicitly illustrates and brings to life the heat of the summer. “Glaring, glaring, glaring white,” give a vivid description of the blinding light often apparent on hot summer days. “Scutter,” “spattered,” and “boil” are very onomatopoeic words and bring to life the summer landscape he describes. Heat is also conveyed in the following lines. Grass Boils” and “heat-wave” add to this sense of unbearable heat. Yet despite this heat, we see “spattered white with boys riding. ” ‘Spattered’ portrays the sheer number of boys, which, due to there size, look like splattered paint. This adds to the sense of the eagerness of the children who have forgotten the blistering heat and are enjoying their long sought vacation. The beginning of the third paragraph draws us back to the childhood pleasure of summer. The opening line says, “And a surf of dust” which refers to the dust created as a result of their movement.

Thus a sense of youthful activity is portrayed. Pleasure is also evoked in the following ling where the boys are seen drinking, “Gulp it lathered with cream or drink it through closed eyelids. ” The words “closed eyelids” draw attention to the pleasure the boys are experiencing, almost as if it is a dream. Yet on the very same line we see a very abrupt

twist as the poet suddenly brings us back to school.

The poet also draws attention to the abrupt and unexpected change children sometimes experience when they are sent back off to school after a long summer break. Until the bell” is what brings about the unexpected twist. Louis uses the bell metaphorically to signify abrupt end of summer, much like how the bell signifies the end of a lesson. The poem ends depressingly with the child deprived of his summer vacation and having to endure every day school life once again. Yet the poet begins the final two lines of the poem with “Calmly,” which is unusual behaviour for a young child just returning from summer vacation. It is almost as if the child is aware that he is destined to return to school.