Symbolism In Travel By Edna St. Vincent Millay

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It is often dreamed about traveling outside one’s life. These thoughts of travels fill the dreamer with blissful thoughts of wonders and expectations. Part of those dreams and expectations are the unknown that awaits at the destination. Travel allows one to explore the unknown region and the paths of infinite possibilities that are new and unfamiliar for the traveler. The poem Travel written by Edna St. Vincent Millay does a great job of using its metaphors to deliver this message

The process of the unknown journey is often started with the dream and wonders. It allows fantasy about places one has never been before. The poem, Travel states “The railroad track is miles away, /And the day is loud with voices speaking,” (Millay). This is …show more content…

In the poem Travel, the symbolism for the medium is represented as a train. The quote “Yet there isn’t a train goes by all day, /But I hear its whistle shrieking.” (Millay) in the poem, Travel symbolizes the wait for some matter of transportation or an opportunity to arrive. In the poem, Millay is waiting for the train to take her out of the train station and into an unfamiliar world. But often, questions such as “How can I get there?” or “What can I do to get there” is asked to one’s self-consciousness before going into the unknown. Most of these questions are then answered with either “Maybe next time.” Or “I’ll wait for the right time to buy airline tickets”. If the one’s wait for the “train” is overextended, there will never be a medium leading to the unknown world because the action to travel will never happen. These waits could be caused by fear of the …show more content…

In the poem, Travel states “All night there isn’t a train goes by, /Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,” (Millay) represents the continued wait for chance mentioned above. The fear of the unknown causes these hesitations. No one can guess what lies in the unknown world. How can anyone know if won’t be a danger or a hardship? The skeptic and loathing attitude towards the unknown fear causes doubt and hesitance of venturing into the unknown. It is surprising to see how many people will reject leaving their lives and head towards the unknown. Being used to the current life amplifies the one’s fear of the unknown. It also creates a fear of one’s change of view of the world the one is living in. However, some can conquer that fear and be excited about what lies in the unknown

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