The Sadness of Brothers (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Galway Kinnell
- First Published: 1980
- Type of Work: Elegy
- Genres: Free verse, Poetry, Elegy
- Subjects: Family or family life, Brothers, Airplanes or jets, Pilots or pilotage
The Poem
In seven stanzas of free verse, Galway Kinnell, the first-person narrator, remembers his lost brother, who died twenty-one years before. Kinnell creates an imaginary reunion he and his black-sheep brother might have in their fifties if they could meet. His brother had run off years ago, after his dream of being a pilot failed; he wandered around and eventually died as an exile from his family. Kinnell imagines that they meet and hug, and that his splintered family is momentarily reunited.
The poem is divided onto five sections, beginning with the surfacing of a...
[The entire page is 1388 words long]
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