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Summary Of Perpetual Motion By Tony Hoagland

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Separation in Perpetual Motion

In the poem Perpetual Motion, author Tony Hoagland portrays the impact of separation of the individual as leading to a lack of freedom and a desire to vanish. Hoagland uses literary devices and diction to support the individual found in the poem in describing his lonesome, perpetual state.

The author starts the poem as the individual is about to begin his journey. The individual believes that he has a “traveling disease”, this virus thrives in an environment that is rich in music. The individual is highly influenced by music as he constantly twists dials, looking for music that can tantalize him till he reaches “Saturn”. This hyperbole used by Hoagland conveys the importance of music to the individual's life and how it may ease his long drives. This is shown in the fourth stanza where the individual confronts himself and his false sense of freedom as he separates from the world. The music would blind himself of the idea that he is losing his identity and becoming …show more content…

The individual believes that the separation from his loved ones has led to him feeling a sense of unfamiliarity and in turn he has begun to perceive the highway as his only loved one. Hoagland personifies the highway to look like a woman with air conditioned arms, jewelry shaped like pay phones, and a cup for a mouth. This implies to the reader that the impact of separations has confused the individual and without the feeling of being loved the individual begins to romanticize the act of driving. Hoagland uses “bottomless” to describe the individual's sense of anonymity, the individual has lost the feeling of both love and freedom as he is tied to the road. The individual feels his separation has made him unknown to others. The individual is so lost mentally that only the road signs tell him his direction in life as his life is the road

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