Even if human beings never discover a perfect purpose or final truth, they move closer to understanding and fulfilment by continuing to live, choose, and move forward. The poem ends with an existential idea: meaning is found in the journey, not necessarily in a final destination.
The blue jay scuffling in the bushes follows
Some hidden purpose, and the gust of birds
That spurts across the field, the wheeling swallows,
Has nested in the trees and undergrowth.
A blue jay is moving noisily through the bushes. Although we cannot see its exact aim, the bird is following a natural and hidden purpose. A group of swallows suddenly flies across the field in a rapid movement. These birds have already made their nests in the trees and bushes. The poet observes that birds seem to know how to live and move naturally. Their actions are guided by instinct. They do not need to explain their purpose or consciously search for a direction in life.
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.
The speaker now turns from birds to human beings. The word “One” means a person or human being in general. Human beings are searching for the natural instinct and balance that birds possess. They may be looking for:
- Instinct: a natural sense of what to do.
- Poise: balance, confidence, and self-control.
- Both: perhaps human beings need both instinct and balance to live meaningfully.
However, people move with “uncertain violence.” They act energetically, but they are not completely sure where they are going. Their movement may be restless, aggressive, or confused.
The phrase “dust thrown by a baffled sense” suggests that human beings are surrounded by confusion. Their senses and understanding are unable to give them a clear direction. Their minds are clouded by doubt.
The phrase “dull thunder of approximate words” refers to human language. People use words to express their thoughts, but words are often incomplete, vague, or unable to communicate the exact truth. Human beings try to understand life through language, but their explanations remain only “approximate,” or partly accurate.
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.
The motorcyclists are approaching from a distance. At first, they look very small and black. The poet compares them to flies moving or hanging in the hot air. This comparison makes them appear like a dark, restless group.
The capital letter in “Boys” gives them a collective identity. They are not introduced as separate individuals; they appear as one group. As the motorcyclists come nearer, their small appearance changes. The distance seems to “throw” them forward into the speaker’s view.
The quiet sound of their engines gradually becomes a loud thunder. The phrase “held by calf and thigh” shows the physical control the riders have over their motorcycles. Their bodies and machines seem closely joined together.
In goggles, donned impersonality,
In gleaming jackets trophied with the dust,
They strap in doubt – by hiding it, robust –
And almost hear a meaning in their noise.
The riders wear goggles, which cover part of their faces. Their protective clothing makes them look impersonal and anonymous. They hide their individual identities behind a common appearance.
The word “impersonality” also suggests emotional protection. They do not want to show their private fears or weaknesses.
Their jackets shine, but they are marked by dust from the road. The dust becomes like a trophy or medal. It proves that they have travelled, taken risks, and lived actively. Their clothing expresses pride, toughness, and rebellion.
The riders hide their doubts behind their tough appearance and confident behaviour. The sentence has a paradox: they become strong partly by concealing their uncertainty. They may not know exactly where they are going in life, but their physical movement helps them feel powerful.
The loud motorcycle sound seems to give their lives a sense of purpose. They “almost” hear meaning in it, but not completely. This word is important because it shows that their movement offers only an incomplete answer to their uncertainty.
Exact conclusion of their hardiness
Has no shape yet, but from known whereabouts
They ride, direction where the tyres press.
They scare a flight of birds across the field:
Much that is natural, to the will must yield.
The riders appear brave and strong, but the final result of their courage is not yet clear. Their toughness has no definite goal or completed form. They are moving toward an unknown future. Their courage is real, but its purpose is still uncertain. They start from a known place, but their destination is not stated. Their direction is simply the direction in which their tyres move. This means that movement itself determines their course. They do not have a clearly announced destination; they continue because the road is carrying them forward.
The motorcycles disturb the natural world. Their noise and speed frighten a group of birds and make them fly away. This moment connects the motorcyclists with the birds mentioned earlier in the poem. However, the birds move naturally, while the humans move through machines and conscious decisions. Many natural things are forced to submit to human will. The birds are frightened away because of the riders’ deliberate movement. The line also has a wider meaning: human beings do not simply follow nature. They use their will, intelligence, and inventions to control or transform the natural world.
Men manufacture both machine and soul,
And use what they imperfectly control
To dare a future from the taken routes.
Human beings create machines, but they also create their own identities and personalities. A motorcycle is manufactured physically, while a person’s “soul” or identity is shaped through choices, actions, beliefs, and experiences. The line suggests that human beings are not completely governed by instinct. They must actively construct themselves.
People use machines and powers that they do not fully understand or control. Motorcycles provide speed and power, but they can also be dangerous. The word “imperfectly” reminds us that human control is limited. Human beings are inventive, but they are not all-powerful.
The riders use the roads they have chosen to face the future bravely. They do not know exactly what will happen, but they continue forward. The phrase “dare a future” means that they challenge the unknown. Their future is not already fixed; they attempt to create it through movement and choice.
It is a part solution, after all.
One is not necessarily discord
On earth; or damned because, half animal,
One lacks direct instinct, because one wakes
Afloat on movement that divides and breaks.
The motorcyclists’ way of life provides only a partial solution to human uncertainty. Riding gives them energy, direction, and a feeling of freedom, but it does not solve every problem of existence. The phrase “after all” sounds reflective, as if the poet has reached a balanced judgment rather than simply praising or condemning them.
The speaker says that a human being is not necessarily in complete conflict with the world. Even if people lack the natural certainty of animals, they can still find a place in life. “One” again refers to humanity in general.
Human beings are partly animal because they possess bodies, desires, and instincts. However, they are also rational and self-conscious. They should not be considered condemned or hopeless merely because they do not possess the direct instinct of birds and other animals. The human condition is difficult, but it is not necessarily a punishment.
When people become conscious, they discover that life is unstable and divided. They are carried along by time and change. The phrase “divides and breaks” suggests that movement can separate people from the past, from other people, and even from their own earlier identities. Life is not still or permanent; it constantly changes.
One joins the movement in a valueless world,
Choosing it, till, both hurler and the hurled,
One moves as well, always toward, toward.
The world does not always provide a clear, fixed meaning. It may appear to be a “valueless world,” where no universal purpose is obvious. Instead of remaining passive, a person joins the movement of life. Action becomes a way of responding to uncertainty.
The person chooses movement voluntarily. At the same time, he is both the one who throws himself forward and the one who is thrown forward by forces beyond his control.
This is a complex idea: Human freedom and external pressure work together.
- He is the “hurler” because he makes choices and takes action.
- He is the “hurled” because time, society, fate, and circumstances also push him forward.
The poem ends with continuous forward movement. The destination is not named. The repeated word “toward” suggests direction without a final goal. The important thing is not necessarily arrival. The important thing is to continue choosing, moving, and creating meaning.
A minute holds them, who have come to go:
The self-defined, astride the created will
They burst away; the towns they travel through
Are home for neither bird nor holiness,
For birds and saints complete their purposes.
This stanza from Thom Gunn’s “On the Move” shows the motorcyclists stopping only briefly before continuing their journey. They define themselves through movement and machines, unlike birds and saints, who already possess a complete natural or spiritual purpose.
The motorcyclists stop for only a short time. They have not come to settle down; they have come to move onward. The phrase “come to go” creates a contrast between arrival and departure. Their real identity is connected with movement, not with staying in one place.
The riders are “self-defined” because they create their own identities. They do not depend on traditional social roles, fixed beliefs, or a ready-made purpose. They sit on motorcycles, which are products of human invention. The expression “astride the created will” means that they are placed on machines created by human intelligence and desire. The motorcycle represents human will: the wish to control speed, direction, and movement. The riders use this invention to express who they are.
The riders suddenly leave with energy and speed. “Burst away” suggests a powerful, almost explosive departure. The towns they pass through are only temporary places. The riders do not stop long enough to make them homes. They are always travelling through rather than belonging to these places.
The towns are not a true home for birds or saints. Birds represent natural instinct. They have their own natural places and know where they belong. Saints represent spiritual certainty and a completed religious purpose. The modern towns, with their roads, machines, noise, and artificial life, provide neither natural peace nor spiritual fulfilment.
Birds fulfil their purposes through instinct. They know how to move, build nests, survive, and live according to nature. Saints fulfil their purposes through religious faith and spiritual dedication. They have a clear aim in life. The motorcyclists are different. They do not possess the birds’ natural instinct or the saints’ spiritual certainty. They are still searching for meaning, so they must keep moving.
Overall, The motorcyclists stop briefly, but they are fundamentally travellers. They create their identity through their machines and their chosen movement. Unlike birds, who follow instinct, and saints, who follow spiritual purpose, the riders are still searching. Their journey represents the modern human condition: people may lack a fixed meaning, but they can continue forward and create their own temporary purpose through action.
At worst, one is in motion; and at best,
Reaching no absolute, in which to rest,
One is always nearer by not keeping still.
At the lowest level, a person gains at least one thing by moving: he is not completely inactive or stuck. The phrase “at worst” sounds modest. The poet does not claim that movement will solve every problem. Even if movement gives no final answer, it still prevents complete stagnation. At the same time, the phrase “at best” introduces a more hopeful possibility. Movement may offer something more valuable than simple physical activity.
Human beings may never reach an “absolute”—a final, perfect, permanent truth or purpose. The word “rest” has two meanings: To find complete mental or spiritual certainty and To stop physically. The poet suggests that there may be no final destination where a person can permanently stop searching. Life does not provide a simple, absolute answer to every question. This line also contrasts human beings with birds and saints. Birds seem to fulfil their natural purpose, and saints fulfil their spiritual purpose. Human beings, however, continue searching because their purpose is not automatically given to them.
This is the main conclusion of the stanza. A person comes closer to understanding, purpose, or self-knowledge by continuing to act and move rather than remaining still. The word “nearer” is important. The person may never completely arrive, but he can make progress. The journey itself brings him closer to a meaningful life. “Not keeping still” does not refer only to travelling on a motorcycle. It also means: Refusing hopelessness and passivity, Continuing to think, Taking action, Making choices, Facing the future.