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KEEPING THINGS WHOLE

Mark Strand

Keeping Things Whole is  a short poem composed by Mark Strand who indirectly pleads for wholeness both in personal life and in society. The poem is against the fragmentation and alienation in our life. This poem is taken from "Selected Poems" published in 1980. The poet through this poem is expressing that human beings always disturb the nature, whereas nature always makes a balance to keep itself intact. The poet appeals for wholeness of nature against its usual fragmentation while performing daily activities in our life.

This poem has a deeper meaning. The poet wants to indicate the different fragmentation in our society and in our personal life. He does not want that life should be broken into pieces. It should be taken as a whole. It is only then that our life is meaningful and becomes successful. The poet does know the value of each and every part of nature to present nature as whole. He also knows the value of each and every small components of nature to continue the wholeness of nature. The poem deals with two separate things of anything, which are part and whole. It is divided into the separate elements. The poet indirectly pleads human beings to fill the gaps in the nature if they separate the parts of nature. We see field, air, etc as a part not as a whole. If we try to make separate parts, that is only hollowness of concept.

The poet says that while in the field, he considers himself as absence of the field; this is because the field is missing where he is standing. Wherever he is in the field, he displaces and occupies the part of the field that is missing (not visible). According to the poet, he divides the air when he walks. In other words, he disturbs the nature.

When he moves forward, the air comes from different directions to cover up the vacant space. In order to fulfill the desire, human beings always damage and disturb the nature. However, the nature always makes a balance by repairing itself. The poet tells us that while performing various activities in life, we should be very careful and should not disturb the nature rather we should support the wholeness of it. The poet says that people may have different reasons of moving, but the poet keeps moving to enable the nature to repair it by itself as he wants to keep the nature whole. He does not want anything to be broken or fragmented. So, the poem pleads for wholeness against the usual fragmentation that goes on in life.








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