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Poet: Donald Justice
Poem: Men At Forty
Poem of the Day:
Oct 21 2006
Comment 6 of 6, added on April 1st, 2007 at 10:50 AM.
well, I really like this somber poem of acceptance. I think the closing door thing has to do with how you just don't get as mad about things as you grow older; you realize you can't change anything, it's all futile and you can simply close the door when something fails or someone argues with you, for instance, at 40 than you can as a younger, more passionate or inexperienced person. Though really, I think most people who shut the doors quietly, have always been that kind of person.
ea
Comment 5 of 6, added on October 30th, 2005 at 8:11 PM.
I consider “Men At Forty” to be a reflective and illuminating poem.
It invokes a realisation of reaching the fulcrum in life; no matter how far back you go or how far forward, this point of balance indicates achieving wisdom and maturity through experience.
Similarly, the person in the poem can comfortably see himself reaching his father – in the mirror he becomes his father. Growing old is not to be feared. It is a natural process. And reaching “twilight,” death is obviously a process too.
“To close softly the doors” may refer to the person in the poem whose children are now grown up, or his own childhood imagination that is left behind. Or perhaps God is no longer an option for answers and he closes the door.
Life is continuous. Climbing, descending and then to take stock of the situation like to “rest on a stair landing.” Afterwards, continue on life’s journey as if “on the deck of a ship.”
For me, this poem is one of discovery.
Frank Corso from Australia
Comment 4 of 6, added on October 5th, 2005 at 4:00 AM.
I turn 40 tomorrow and came across this poem by accident last night. I like the partial stanza quoted here:
"They feel it moving
Beneath them now like the deck of a ship,
Though the swell is gentle."
It suggests to me that 40 is not old (wishful thinking on my part?) but is a point where one must appreciate that the journey to death is gently beginning. My only concern with this interpretation is that mortality was much different in 1967 when the poet wrote this than it is now.
Jim W from United States
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Comments
well, I really like this somber poem of acceptance. I think the closing door thing has to do with how you just don't get as mad about things as you grow older; you realize you can't change anything, it's all futile and you can simply close the door when something fails or someone argues with you, for instance, at 40 than you can as a younger, more passionate or inexperienced person. Though really, I think most people who shut the doors quietly, have always been that kind of person.
ea