Analysis of a Horses by Edwin Muir Essay -- English Literature

Analysis of a poem- Horses by Edwin Muir It is said that whiz should forget the one-time(prenominal) and live in the presentIt is said that one should forget the past and live in the present.However, Edwin Muirs Horses is a poem of past memories only. Theinteresting small-arm is that it deals with many conflicts and issues whichare prevalent even today. It is thus a bridge between the past andpresent and is expressed in the form of a theme of literature. Muirhimself said that in writing about horses in this poem, he wasreflecting his childhood view of his fathers plough horses, whichmust have seemed huge, powerful and gloomy to a boy of four orfive. Some of his poems, including Horses, have a close equivalentin passages from his autobiography, suggesting that seeing thesehorses reminded him of certain events.The poem begins with the poet transcending reality and reminiscing ofone of his childhood memories. In this case it is one of when he as achild, watched a team of horses plo ughing the stubble back into thefield, during a rainy day which got progressively stormier. In thefirst two euphonys, the poet gives the reader a meaningful hint intowhat the circumstances of his times were. This was most probably, thehardships of a period of war. The few references Muir makes to an militarysuch as in cases where the horses marched and the word conqueringfurther strengthen this issue of war.Their hooves like pistons in an ancient millThis line brings up some other issue which is plaguing the third world aswe know it. In the same verse he refers to a childish hour in whichhe too compares the horses hooves to pistons in an ancient mill.This refers to how child labour in factories was existent e... ...hose memories back when he says I mustpine hoping, in my perspective, to change the past. Muir now seemsto be in a state of possible turmoil and confusion. At one point, herefers to these memories as dreadful and fearful while in the sameverse he calls them bright. U ltimately however, it seems that thepast has been greater than the present at least it still has anoverwhelming effect on the poets mind. It is said When you are throw from the horse, the best thing you grass do is to get back on assoon as possible. Returning to the scene of crime can help resolveissues and this is exactly what Muir is doing through the course ofthe poem.The closing paragraph of the poem is very powerful in how it expresseshis mixed feelings towards the Horses. Through these animals, he has attached light to different issues that disturbed him as a child.