On the Move

The meter of “On the Move” is largely iambic pentameter: the most common meter in English poetry. An iamb is a poetic foot in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable. A pentameter consists of five poetic feet. Line 20 is a strong example of an iambic pentameter: “They scare a flight of birds across the field.” Sometimes there is an extra, unstressed syllable at the end of the line. This is known as a feminine ending, as in the following two lines: “The blue jay scuffling in the bushes follows” (Line 1), and “That spurts across the field, the wheeling swallows” (Line 3).

Sometimes, to create variety, Gunn modifies the basic iambic rhythm. Line 10, for example, begins with two stressed syllables (“Small, black”). This type of foot is known as a spondee. Gunn also makes use of trochaic feet. A trochee is a poetic foot in which the first syllable is stressed, and the second is unstressed. (It is therefore the reverse of an iamb.) This can be seen in the inversion of the first foot in Line 12: “Bulges to thunder”; the same occurs in Line 31: “Choosing it.