17 pages • 34 minutes read
On the Move
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Discovery of the Pacific” by Thom Gunn (1971)
Like the motorcyclists in “On the Move,” the two young lovers in this poem have certainly been on the move, but in their car (not on motorcycles). They have driven from Kansas to the West Coast. Now in California, they look out on the Pacific Ocean at sunset as they lean up against the car. The final image shows them in the water up their chins, embracing and enjoying the lapping of the water. It is an image of stillness rather than motion. Destination and purpose are important in this poem as they are not in “On the Move.” The lovers knew exactly where they were going and got their delightful reward. Gunn said the poem was inspired by the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1967, which drew young people from all over the country.
“Considering the Snail” by Thom Gunn (1961)
This poem is written in syllabic verse, in which the meter is determined by the number of syllables in each line rather than the number of stresses. Each line in this poem contains seven syllables. At night, a snail slowly moves across the grass. The speaker acknowledges they are ignorant of the snail’s world and what drives it forward. Only when they imagine seeing the white trail that the snail leaves do they glimpse “the slow passion / to that deliberate progress” (Lines 17-18). The snail moves too slowly to appear in a poem like “On the Move,” yet it serves here as another example of the instinctual purpose of the animal kingdom as contrasted with the open-ended freedom of the human.
“Elvis Presley” by Thom Gunn (1957)
Gunn’s interest in popular culture is evident from this poem, published in the same collection as “On the Move.” It was one of the first poems written about Elvis, who had only burst onto the national music scene a couple of years prior. At the time, he was famous for hit singles such as “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Hound Dog” and “Love Me Tender.” One line in this poem became much quoted: “He turns revolt into a style.”
Further Literary Resources
“Rule and Energy: The Poetry of Thom Gunn” by Jay Parini (1982)
In this analysis of Gunn’s poetry, Parini discusses “On the Move.” He quotes the last line, “One is always nearer by not standing still,” and wryly comments, “A Zen master would no doubt object.” He makes the point that in the poem, Gunn “isolates an important ‘belief’ of our times: that motion is itself a positive quality, a denial of death, an assertion of will over inert matter.”
“Analysis of Thom Gunn’s Poems” by Nasrullah Mambrol (2020)
In his analysis, Mambrol notes Gunn’s interest in the “existential hero” in many different forms, including motorcyclist and soldier. He also comments on Gunn’s reading of Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism and observes that Gunn’s The Sense of Movement (which includes “One the Move”) is an examination “of the active versus the contemplative existential hero. Here the pose, poise, or panache of the hero is more important than the goal of the action, the movement constituting its own meaning.”
“The Revelations of Thom Gunn’s Letters” by Hilton Als (2022)
This article on Gunn’s life and work offers a view through the lens of the poet’s letters. Als quotes an entire stanza of “On the Move” and comments on Gunn’s interest in movies and popular culture and the fact that “[h]is love of leather, motorcycles, and ‘masculinity’ was, in part, inspired by Marlon Brando.” Als quotes an interview in which Gunn commented on the change that took place in movies in the early 1950s: The “gentleman hero” was ousted in favor of “blue-collar hero[es],” like Brando and James Dean.
Listen to Poem
British scholar and writer Luke Prodromou reads Gunn’s poem on YouTube.
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