A Lifelong Journey in 127 Words Movement is essential to life and progress; if humans had never explored past their comfort zone, life today would be completely different. In Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey, the theme of movement is very prevalent. This movement is seen in ideas from actually getting up and relocating to a different place to internal journeys through time that bring the reader an entirely new understanding of the collection. In the poem “Theories of Time and Space,” Trethewey prefaces her collection by joining these two different types of journeys together to convey what is to come. Trethewey’s poem, “Theories of Time and Space,” focuses on a journey that could be taken in two completely different ways. The first, more obvious journey is quite literal, seen in allusions to various locations in the south: highway 49, miles and miles of beaches, Gulfport piers, and a boat leading to Ship Island (Trethewey, lines 5,9,12,17). This journey is feasible and can be accomplished easily. The movement through Mississippi demonstrates Trethewey’s vast knowledge and experience with the south. Her introduction to the different …show more content…
“Theories of Time and Space” leads the reader on a trip through history, observing what has happened, trying desperately to hold on to every moment and memory, even though you can “Bring only/ what you must carry” (lines 14-15). The poem starts off with a journey into the past thinking about how “there’s no going home” eventually leading to the present and future - realizing that time changes everything and everyone. This can be seen in line 19 when Trethewey discusses a photograph depicting the reader, but this image is no longer familiar due to the effects of time. The reader experiences this figurative movement, learning that time changes all and at the end of Native Guard they will be changed as