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Robert Duncan
45
Robert Duncan
"Childhood's Retreat"
"It’s in the perilous boughs of the tree
out of blue sky the wind
sings loudest surrounding me.
And solitude, a wild solitude
’s reveald, fearfully, high I’d climb
into the shaking uncertainties,
part out of longing, part daring my self,
part to see that
widening of the world, part
to find my own, my secret
hiding sense and place, where from afar
all voices and scenes come back
—the barking of a dog, autumnal burnings,
far calls, close calls— the boy I was
calls out to me
here the man where I am “Look
I’ve been where you
most fear to be.”
Robert Duncan
Discussion Questions
-What does the rhyming of Duncan's poetry tell us about the entire poem?
-Why was childhood as a theme so important to Duncan's Poetry?
-How do you think that Dunca's VIBE is seen in this poem?
-Do you think Duncan's poetry is unique or poetic genuis?
Background
-Born Oakland, CA in 1919
-Birth name Edward Howard Duncan Jr.
-His mother Died in childbirth and his father could then no longer afford him
-In 1920 he was adopted by Edwin and Minnehaha Symmes, devout Theosophists
Interesting Facts
-He was adopted based on astrological charts relating to his birth
-Worked as a typist and a dishwasher
-He had a physchiatric discharge from the army in 1941
-At the age of three he had an accident in the snow and became cross-eyed and from then on saw double
Sources
1. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/robert-duncan
2.http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/duncan/life.htm
3. http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/childhood-s-retreat/
4. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/186
by
Darren Peltz
1.) In lines 2-3, Duncan uses personification;
"out of the blue sky the wind/ sings"
2.) In lines 4-5, Duncan uses repition
"And solitude, a wild solitude's revealed"
3.) Throughout the entire poem, Duncan uses unique
puncuation for emphasis and flow; in line 7 "part out of longing, part daring my self,"