Analysis of The Truly Great

The Truly Great

BY STEPHEN SPENDER
I think continually of those who were truly great.
Who, from the womb, remembered the soul’s history
Through corridors of light, where the hours are suns,
Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the Spirit, clothed from head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the Spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.

What is precious, is never to forget

The essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth.
Never to deny its pleasure in the morning simple light
Nor its grave evening demand for love.
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog, the flowering of the spirit.

Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields,

See how these names are fêted by the waving grass
And by the streamers of white cloud
And whispers of wind in the listening sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life,
Who wore at their hearts the fire’s centre.
Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.

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.

Through corridors of light, where the hours are suns,

Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition

Was that their lips, still touched with fire,

The above portion of the first stanza is using metaphors to relate hours to suns and
symbolism to relate their noble words to lips on fire. Spender is revealing to us here that
these truly great people dwell in a constant light where the hours are suns. The sun is
the main source of energy on earth. It is brilliant and a source of great inspiration,
therefore Spender could be saying that their every hour was a source of great
inspiration full of achievement. Spender goes on to state that these great people had
ambition, and their ambition could be seen by the words that they spoke to the people.
Over here one can question whether Spender was referring to himself, or all renowned
poets, as poets are known for making an impact on the world through their words.
Spender concludes the first stanza by stating that the truly great discussed their
ambitions with full energy, like the blossoms of spring which are another symbol of life
itself, they brought much change and happiness into the world through their constant
toils.

The Second Stanza

The second stanza uses Symbolism again to refer to the hard work of the truly great as
blood drawn from springs. He states that there is an essential happiness that
accompanies drawing the blood from springs, showing us that these individuals
conducted all their great acts and hard work with true happiness and not while
complaining. Spender states that their effort has broken through rocks before our earth,
which is another way to say that their efforts are timeless. Spender concludes this
stanza by discussing how the truly great never allowed traffic, or rather, discouraging
words and distractions to prevent them from reaching for their goals and ambitions.
Spender once again discusses ‘the spirit’ which most likely refers to the vision and
willpower these great individuals possessed.

The Third Stanza

The last stanza is very descriptive and full of imagery. This stanza has one main
message and that is that these people will never be forgotten. This is an elaboration of
his statement in the second stanza in which he states that ‘what is precious is never to
forget’. Apart from referring to the work of the individuals as something precious,
Spender now refers to the individuals themselves as precious too. Spender is stating
that in every high place on earth; the snow of the mountaintops, the waving grass-filled
meadows, the clouds and the winds all whisper the names of these great people. In this
stanza Spender reveals that these heroes may not be poets but rather military
individuals who lost their lives fighting for their country because of his description of
their effort as ‘fought for life’. The first stanza also mentioned their efforts as blood
drawn from wells so it is very likely that Spender had written this poem about military
individuals, especially since The Truly Great was written shortly after world war one.

The last verse in the poem is truly artistic in the way it glorifies these great people.
Spender states that they were born of the sun which is a metaphor for the fact that they
were so full of energy and life that they followed their dreams and ambitions and in
doing so signed the air with their honor, or in other words, they left a lasting mark on the
world.

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.