NSC English HL Poetry Anthology: Imagined Worlds: Read the poem below and then ans

Question

Read the poem below and then answer the question that follows.

ON THE MOVE – Thom Gunn

'Man, you gotta Go.'

The blue jay scuffling in the bushes follows
Some hidden purpose, and the gust of birds
That spurts across the field, the wheeling swallows,
Have nested in the trees and undergrowth.
Seeking their instinct, or their poise, or both,
One moves with an uncertain violence
Under the dust thrown by a baffled sense
Or the dull thunder of approximate words.

On motorcycles, up the road, they come:
Small, black, as flies hanging in heat, the Boys,
Until the distance throws them forth, their hum
Bulges to thunder held by calf and thigh.
In goggles, donned impersonally,
In gleaming jackets trophied with the dust,
They strap in doubt – by hiding, it robust –
And almost hear a meaning in their noise.

Exact conclusion of their hardiness
Has no shape yet, but from known whereabouts
They ride, direction where the tires press.
They scare a flight of birds across the field
Much that is natural, to the will must yield.
Man manufacture both machine and soul,
And use what they imperfectly control
To dare a future from the taken routes.

It is part solution, after all.

Birds in one nest, no interference discord
On earth; or damned because, half animal,
One lacks direct instinct, because one wields
Afloat on movement that diverges and breaks.
One moves in the moment in a valueless world,
Choosing it, still, but from how and when hurled,
One moves as well, always toward.

Read the poem below and then answer the question that follows - NSC English HL - Question 1 - 2016 - Paper 2

Worked Solution & Example Answer:Read the poem below and then answer the question that follows - NSC English HL - Question 1 - 2016 - Paper 2

Unlike the birds who obey a 'hidden purpose', man's movements are 'uncertain'.

The swallows have nested: 'Birds and saints complete their purposes.'

People remain 'baffled' and their expression is only 'approximate'.

Having no definite destination, the bikers remain in constant motion.

Man feels the pressure to 'dare a future' and to potentially accept his existence.

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