19 pages • 38 minutes read
Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward (Among them Nora and Henry III)
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Symbols & Motifs
Three Kinds of Action
Action is present in the poem's title since giving a speech and addressing an audience is an action that can provoke a fair amount of anxiety in people. Speaking in front of others can be nerve-rattling—especially if the audience is composed of restless young people.
In Lines 2-5, the action motif continues as the speaker describes the youth according to their actions. The young people are "down-keepers" (Line 2), "sun-slappers" (Line 3), "self-soilers" (Line 4), and "harmony-hushers (Line 4). They are busy fomenting aggravation.
The speech itself supplies the youth with an alternative though necessary action—face the day. Even if they're not ready, young people should take steps to prepare for the calmer life of day. Besides the action of giving a speech, there are two other kinds of actions in the poem: the actions the youth already do and the actions the speaker and speech-giver want their young audience to learn.
In the final stanza, the speaker warns against yielding to further tempestuous actions. Their activities shouldn't center on winning battles or racing to the end of a song. Rather, their actions should be less frantic and more poised and considered. In fact, they might not want to be so active, as it may behoove them to settle down and get along.
The “Hard Home-Run”
To hit a home run is an action, as well. It's one of the most spectacular occurrences in baseball, as it's when a baseball player hits the ball in such a way that they are able to round all the bases before the opposing team returns the ball. When a player on the home team hits a home run, the crowd gets as boisterous as the youth referenced in this poem.
Brooks, however, subverts the meaning of the home run. Ostensibly, the home run should link to the youth. It's a dramatic play, so it matches the fever pitch of the young. Yet Brooks’s home run symbolizes daytime. If the speech-giver convinces their audience to confront the day, the speech-giver—not the youth—has hit the home run. The symbolism implies that day is not without drama and thrills since, in the poem, hard home runs occur during the calmer day and not the rowdy night.
The Along
The last word of Brooks's poem is "along" (Line 12). To live in "the along" implies a harmonious life, not the kind of existence described in Lines 2-5. When people get along or when someone goes along with something, they are agreeable and yielding. They're not rebelling or fighting, but recognizing what must be accepted. Whatever the present circumstances might be, they're facing them because their lives move along with the moment; they don't try to hush or slap it.
At the same time, "along" might mean something like "a long"—as in "live a long time" or a "full life" The imagery in Lines 2-5 don't paint a group of people concerned with living a long life. Their actions indicate the opposite, as people constantly in turmoil tend to quickly burn out or run down. To help the audience foster a sustainable life, the speaker encourages them to "live in the along" (Line 12)—to live for the future and prosperity and not just for a wild night of fun, which doesn't last a long time.
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By Gwendolyn Brooks
