19 pages • 38 minutes read
To Help the Monkey Cross the River
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
“To Help the Monkey Cross the River” is a lyric poem by Thomas Lux, published in his collection The Cradle Place (2004). Written in unrhymed verse, the 26-line poem is but one, unbroken stanza. Despite the absence of a formal structure and meter, the poem has an internal musicality and is crafted to be read aloud. Its language is simple, witty, and inventive. The poem is a twist on a traditional animal tale and has strong elements of an allegory as its characters and events carrying deeper symbolic meaning. Open-ended and provocative, the poem is a puzzle and invites the reader’s participation to decipher its underlying meaning. Though it is influenced by 20th-century literary movements like surrealism and neo-surrealism—which emphasize dream-like and juxtaposed imagery—it cannot be called a surrealist poem. Rather, Lux uses elements of surrealism as well as absurdism (the belief that life is chaotic and unpredictable) to create his own, unique vision.
A mature example of Lux’s work, “To Help the Monkey Cross the River” is about a speaker compelled to help a tiny monkey swimming across a possibly-predator-infested river. Is the speaker able to help the monkey? Does Unlock all 19 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
