Why do most people follow ‘the beaten track' and want to ‘know the things that were known before'?
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Answer:
Things That Haven't Been Done Before
This poem, like the title says is about doing things that has never been done before. In the first stanza the author just gives an example of Christopher Columbus and his dream of finding a shore. The author says he was strong and had faith that’s why he succeeded. Most people today don’t take risks and follow the footsteps of others because they know what the outcome will be. The poem tells us to follow our dreams and try new ways do things that haven’t been done before. This is one of his inspirational poems where he motivates us to forget our daily routine and just enjoy life our own unique way. He gave us the example of Columbus because, he actually went through a lot before he discovered America. First of all he spent years trying to get someone to pay for his voyage and at one point his men threatened to mutiny and wanted to turn back. However Columbus never gave up and continued. That is what the poem teaches us that there are people who will do things that have been done because they now know the results and won’t take risks, “The many will follow the beaten track /With guideposts on the way,” (line number 9-10). He says that there are individuals who follow paths that are successful because they have been told that it is and they won’t try something out until they have been told it is safe to do so. The way Edgar Guest writes this poem changes the mood along the way. It awakens an emotional response in the reader readers because it instigates them to get out of their comfort zone and take risks as part of their enjoyment in life. His poem is divided up in stanzas and each one of them talks about a different thing. For example in the first stanza he gives the example of Columbus, “…Columbus dreamed of an unknown shore”(Line number 3), in the second stanza he talks about people with the same routine every day, “…They live and have lived for ages back /With a chart for every day”(line number 10-11), and in the third stanza he talks about risk-takers, “A few strike out, without map or chart, /Where never a man has been,”(line number 17-18). In line 29, “Are you one of the timid souls that quail,” is a personification because our soul can’t actually tremble from fear but it is a great personification because this actually makes the reader question themselves that are we brave enough go out and set new paths for ourselves? The poem is simple, yet really inspiring because we have to remember that trying out something different may turn out way better than expected but we would have never known until we had tried the things that haven’t been done before.
Answer:
That is what the poem teaches us that there are people who will do things that have been done because they now know the results and won't take risks,
“ The many will follow the beaten track "