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First Stanza
Spender commences his poem with an open statement saying that he thinks often of those
individuals who have made a big difference in the world. He refers to these individuals as ‘the
truly great’, which is fairly straightforward. However, his description of them which comes in
the following line is not so blunt. Spender describes these truly great people as those ‘who
remembered the soul’s history from the womb’. This could hold multiple meanings. The first and
most obvious meaning is in which the word soul can be taken as symbolism to represent people,
for all people have one thing in common which is a soul. Spender could be saying that these truly
great people are those who literally always kept in mind the history of people. By forever
remembering what humankind had gone through from the beginning of time, it allowed these
individuals to be passionate about making a change and therefore they become so great. ‘Those
who remembered the soul’s history from the womb’ could also be a way of saying that these
people remembered that they had come from God and therefore focused their life on trying to
achieve something more because materialistic pleasures did not appeal to them. Spender uses
Enjambment at the end of this line to transition on to the next few lines in the stanza which
shows that the next few lines are further discussing the traits of the truly great.
The next few lines of the first stanza are heavy with Metaphors and Symbolism.
Using Metaphors, Symbolism, Enjambment and beautiful imagery; Stephen Spender has created
a wonderful piece of literary art in which he successfully manages to glorify and remind the
reader not to forget those who have made great sacrifices to bring better changes into our lives.
Spender successfully guides the reader through the achievements of those of the past, without
directly mentioning any particular event. It is not exactly clear who is being praised in The Truly
Great, but it could be a poem about poets and how much they have contributed to bringing
change in the world, or it could be a poem about war and glorifying the military persons who lost
their lives trying to defend us. Lastly, it could be a poem defining what greatness truly is in all
aspects of life.