Saturday At The Canal

Saturday At The Canal: analysis

Introduction

Saturday at the Canal is a 21-line poem in one stanza, from the collection Home Course in Religion. The speaker looks back on being a teenager who hoped "to be happy by seventeen". School is dull and sour. On a Saturday he and a friend sit by a canal, throwing rocks and dreaming of San Francisco.

The poem is about restlessness and the longing to escape a small, stuck life. The boys want to leave by any means. Yet they stay on the bank while time seems to freeze. Only the water gets out, "racing out of town".

Summary

The speaker begins by saying he was hoping to be happy by seventeen. He describes school as a check mark in a roll book and a tuba playing at noon before a game. The teachers seemed "Too close to dying to understand". The hallways stank of poor grades and unwashed hair.

So, on a Saturday, he and a friend sit watching the water. They hardly talk. They warm themselves by hurling rocks at the dusty ground. They feel awful because San Francisco is only a postcard on a bedroom wall. They want to go there, hitchhiking, and be with people who know more than three chords on a guitar.

The speaker notes that they did not drink or smoke, though their hair was shoulder length and wild in the wind. The shadows of their loneliness gripped the loose dirt. By bus, car or train they wanted to get out. But the years froze as they sat on the bank. Their eyes followed the water, white on top and dark beneath, racing out of town.

Themes and meaning

The main theme is the longing to escape. The phrase "We wanted to get out" sums it up. San Francisco stands for a fuller life, but it exists only as "a postcard" on a bedroom wall. The boys list every means of leaving: bus, car, train, hitchhiking. They use none of them.

Adolescent disappointment is a second theme. The first line sets a quiet goal, "to be happy by seventeen", and the poem shows it unmet. School is reduced to routine and noise. The teachers seem remote and old. Nothing in town offers meaning, so the boys turn to the canal.

The poem also treats loneliness as something shared but unspoken. The two friends sit "Neither of us talking much". Their loneliness is strong enough to cast shadows that grip the dirt. Hurling rocks is their only outlet. The action is pointless, which mirrors their sense of going nowhere.

Time and stasis form a final theme. The words "The years froze" suggest a feeling of being stuck for a long time. The water does what the boys cannot, moving fast and purposeful out of town. The last image can be read as both a promise and a taunt. It is "White-tipped but dark underneath", hinting that escape may hold its own darkness.

Tone

The tone is wistful and slightly bitter. The opening line sounds like a modest hope that came to nothing. The description of school is scornful, as in "An obnoxious tuba" and hallways that "Stank".

There is humour in the poem too. The jab at the teachers being "Too close to dying" is a teenager's harsh joke. The wish for people "who knew more than three chords" is dry and self-aware.

The tone deepens toward the end. Words like "loneliness" and "froze" bring a heavier mood. The final image is calm but sad. The speaker watches the water leave without him, and the poem stops there.

Form and structure

The poem is a single stanza of 21 lines in free verse. The lines are long, from 9 to 15 syllables. There is no regular metre and no rhyme scheme.

Sentences constantly run over line ends. Line 4 ends "The teachers were" and line 16 ends on "of". This heavy enjambment gives the poem the restless, rambling movement of thought. Each line begins with a capital letter, as in older verse. The flow of sentences across lines echoes the water that ends the poem.

Poetic devices

Metaphor line 2

School was a sharp check mark in the roll book School is reduced to taking attendance. The image suggests routine with no real learning.

Hyperbole line 5

Too close to dying to understand A teenager's exaggeration about older teachers. It shows the gap the speaker felt between them and him.

Imagery line 6

Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair A smell is attached to failure. Mixing the abstract and physical makes school feel stale.

Metaphor line 10

San Francisco was a postcard The city is only a picture, not a place within reach. Their dream stays flat and distant.

Personification line 17

This loneliness gripped loose dirt Loneliness casts shadows and grips the ground. The feeling seems physical and clinging.

Enjambment line 19

The years froze The line breaks before As we sat on the bank. The pause makes time seem to stop.

Symbol line 21

racing out of town The water leaves as the boys cannot. It stands for the escape they long for.

Contrast line 21

White-tipped but dark underneath A bright surface over darkness. It suggests that leaving, or life itself, may be harder than it looks.

Asyndeton line 17

By bus or car, The list of transport runs into line 18. The pile-up shows how badly they want to leave by any means.

Words worth knowing

roll book

A teacher's register where attendance is marked.

Thus

Therefore. The formal word links the dull school to the trip to the canal.

canal

A man-made waterway. Here it is the only moving thing in the boys' world.

three chords

The handful of basic chords a beginner learns on guitar. The boys want people with more skill and experience.

What readers have said

• Gave the poem to a daughter graduating high school and read it as a picture of underfunded public education. kerry english, 2005
• Disagrees, arguing the poem is not about education but about the desire of seventeen-year-olds everywhere to escape and explore. L C Haywood, 2005
• Finds it true to life in a blank, boring town, and describes wanting to get in a car and just drive. Sonnet White, 2006
• Remembers the feelings of high school and says the poem captures youth on the threshold of adulthood. Terry Wilson, 2005
• Plans to pair it with The Outsiders for seventh graders because of a similar tone and subject. C.R.Thompson, 2005