Poem 5 - The Moment

The Moment

By : Margaret Atwood

The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,

is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can't breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.

Analysis

            In the poem, The Moment, Atwood focuses on the theme of nature over humans and dependence of humans on the nature. For example, Atwood says, " You never found us. It was always the other way round. ", where the author attempts to show a  human that he is not the great one on the planet but the nature is. Next, Atwood proves her point of nature being the superior between the two - " the air moves back from you like a wave and you can't breathe." - which shows humans' dependence on the nature for survival through the air. There is also a theme of no ownership when Atwood says, "You own nothing " - where nature is telling human that he owns nothing and is just a visitor. In terms of the literary devices, Atwood uses imagery - " you stand in the centre of your room, house, half-acre, square mile, island, country, " - which allows the reader to visualise a human proclaiming the land on Earth that belongs to the mother nature. In addition, there is a use of simile in the poem - " like a wave " - where the author makes a comparison between the air's movement to a wave, suggesting that the air is really mad at the human and defeats him - making him beg for life. There is also use of personification - " No, they whisper. " - where Atwood is bringing life into the nature and allowing humans to feel nature's feelings of denial to anyone's ownership on it. Repetition is used in diction when Atwood repeats her words, " moment when ", where the author is putting light on the moment when the human thinks he is the owner of nature, nature leaves him as nature is no one's to own, it is just to experience and have fun from. The repetition attracts reader's attention and also helps convey the message easily. The literary devices help the reader visualise and analyse the comparisons made between air's movement and wave along with the personification to allow the reader feel the author's feelings and perspectives by making a reference to the non - living objects. A reader could get the real meaning behind this beautiful poem only because of the literary devices.

            Now making connections to myself on this topic, when I was small, my great grandmother died and at that time I asked my parents a question - " What did she take with her after she died? ", and the answer was nothing. At this  moment, I realized something - no matter how hard we work, we are just a visitor and all our possessions are not ours as we don't own it in the real sense. Moreover, I came to know of this fact in many of the Bollywood movies where there is a mention that we come empty - handed and we go empty - handed from this world. My thoughts are similar to Atwood's - " You own nothing. You were a visitor, time after time", which suggests there is a connection as I know the truth the nature is trying to tell the human so I can understand what the author is feeling by putting her words into the nature's mouth.

            Atwood is trying to send a message across her audience that no matter how hard you work, you will not be able to conquer the nature as it is forever and humans are not. Humans are just a visitor as mentioned by the author. The author seems to be perplexed by the busy humans running around for money to gain properties, super cars etc. and wishes to help humans by spreading a message of not ruining your life for a piece of nature that we cannot own under any circumstances so rather live life the way it is and to "Expect Nothing". Someone would write this poem to make the today's materialistic human remember of his true reality - an admirer of the beauty of nature. The purpose of this poem is to evoke humans of the true application of nature - it is to have fun from rather than profit from or own it which we can't.

            I agree to Atwood's perception as struggling all life just for a part of the nature does not make sense as we cannot take it with us so there is no point in attaining its ownership which has not been handed to us humans. We will just die and leave all our properties owned from hard - earned money over to other people and never be able to call our ownership to it as we don't exist; however the nature does and it just laughs on fools like us who say I own this part of nature and eventually go away leaving it behind for someone else to gain nature's ownership. From this, in my opinion, The Moment, is a great poem that should inspire the misguided humans for a long time.