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Position:Home>Poetry> Can someone please help me analyze the poem "salutation" by ezra pound


Question:just like what the inner meaning is? the poem is...


SALUTATION
O generation of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable,
I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are,
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: just like what the inner meaning is? the poem is...


SALUTATION
O generation of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable,
I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are,
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.

Bwuah. This is one of my favorite poems of all time. Just saying. I've never been one to analyze it much. The way I always saw it was basically recounting how someone feels about what they have.

Like, nowadays we are smug and uncomfortable. We often say "It's too hot" or "It's too cold" without thinking of the people who have it worse-off. Then he tells of the fisherman who one would think of having a not-so decent life full of drinking port-to-port, but explains that they are rather happy and have happy families and live happily overall.

Pound then concludes it by saying I'm happier than you because I understand where happiness comes from and the fisherman and his family is even happier than me because they don't understand where happiness comes from but they understand happiness, and then he throws in a fun little twist at the end and says "And fish are stuck in this lake, without any clothing, yet they are just as happy with their worlds."

Basically, the whole thing says how the people need to look at what they have and not what they don't have. John Cleese once said "A hotel in Miami is called Hawaii. There is also a motel in Hawaii called Miami. The place that seems romantic and special is always somewhere else. Those who grow oranges in their backyards love apple orchards, those who have an apple tree or two dream of oranges. What seems most desirable is always the thing we don't have. If we could only see our homes and possessions the way others see them, perhaps we would no longer take them for granted. We could then realize that it matters little whether we live in Miami or Hawaii-- each place is beautiful in its own right." That's really the first thing I think of when I read this poem by Ezra Pound.

And the line about the fish always struck me as really cool. Haha.


Hope I helped.