Merritt Parkway

Poetry Analysis

2/1/2007

Merritt Parkway Analysis

While on first view Merritt Parkway is a simple poem about a beautiful road, what is the reason that this road means so much to Denise Levertov? As the poem opens the first feeling that u get about conformity and regularity, with a taste of mans inherent nature to fall in to habits and create a beaten path as Thoreau once said in Walden. does Levertov 's life influence this while she was a young women she was working as a nurse in England and saw day after day people getting into routines of protecting themselves. While this may have something to do with why she talks about the Merritt parkway in a way as to say that it is one of the most beautiful sight, while this is one of very few roads in the U.S. that is considered a landmark because of its overwhelming beauty and unique design and own it follows a winding tree line. While this is a representation of the overall beauty of life it also goes to show the struggle in which it is granted to us. And while life may seem to be easy going it changes and the thing that surround us so often may change in an instant, or as fast as you go around the corner. While every driver that you would ask would tell you that to fall asleep at the wheel is quite possibly suicide. When we let the conformities of everyday life strike us down and we fall asleep to the changes in front of our eyes we must wake up and run with the flow of life and strive to become great. Falling under the grasps of conformity we let our selves drown out and fade away into the pas. While life is lived deliberaty we become greater than we could ever imagine, the ability to live life to the fullest will fall into its natural position.