Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
- We have another section, and another "Allons!" to kick things off.
- In this case, the speaker is encouraging you to high-tail it after "the GREAT COMPANIONS."
- Who are these people, other than lovers of capital letters?
- We're glad you asked, because we're headed for some detailed description:
- They're on the road—"swift and majestic men" and the best women (152).
- They've overcome every obstacle in their way.
- They're criminals; they're virtuous; they're sailors; they're walkers.
- They like both calm and rough seas.
- They come from far-off lands and houses.
- They trust men and women.
- They observe cities, work alone, and stop to contemplate things like shells and plants that grow on the shore.
- They dance at weddings, kiss brides, help children, and even have children.
- They're soldiers in revolutions; they stand by open graves and lower down coffins.
- They journey through the years with "their own diverse phases" (moods or stages) (162).
- They've moved on from their "unrealized baby-days" (163). In other words, they're grown-ups.
- They're happy to travel in their youth, or with manly beards, or with their womanhood, or even in old age.
- That old age is made calm and broad by the "haughty" (arrogant) breath of the universe and it flows free because of the nearness of the "freedom of death" (167-168).
- All these folks are feeling the flow out there on the open road.