"I can't even begin to think about a world where people have to make choices like that."
--"You live in that world."

• World hunger
• Immigration 

The Secret
      --Denise Levertov
Commentary
The hand of the artist
Themes--find three

• Imagery
• Word choice
• Line breaks
• other 

Man's search for meaning

Finding meaning takes work. It's a constant quest

Innocence--

Importance of preserving innocence

Everyone sees different things in art (and perhaps sees the poem differently . . .)

"The secret." Art has the power to reveal the secret, which is . . .

 . . . that there is no secret? That there is an infinite number of secrets? That there is meaning and purpose that can be found if we . . . 

The message of the poem is that: 

THEMES IN "THE SECRET"

1. Elusiveness of meaning. Man's search for meaning
2. Loss of innocence. The beauty of innocent enthusiasm
3. The value of little things. How wonderful it would be to read one line and be happy
4. Optimism
5. 
   

Try to read pages 190- 214 in The Bean Trees, although there will not be a quiz over it at this point.
FINAL EXAM: June 13 (1st) and June 15 MOVIES WILL BE SHOWN
   BEAN TREES 83 question test JUNE 9/10
   50 Vocabulary words from Norman Schur list. Matching. (the 50 we studied last month)
MOVIE PROJECT: You will show your movie during the final exam period.
COUNTDOWN: 6 DAYS LEFT (but only 5 more days to finish The Bean Trees!) 

The Secret

Related Poem Content Details

BY DENISE LEVERTOV

Two girls discover the secret of life in a sudden line of poetry. I who don’t know the   

secret wrote the line. They told me (through a third person) they had found it 

but not what it was   

not even 

what line it was. No doubt   

by now, more than a week   

later, they have forgotten   

the secret, 

the line, the name of   

the poem. I love them   

for finding what   

I can’t find, 

and for loving me   

for the line I wrote,   

and for forgetting it   

so that 

a thousand times, till death   

finds them, they may   

discover it again, in other   

lines 

in other   

happenings. And for   

wanting to know it,   

for 

assuming there is   

such a secret, yes,   

for that   

most of all.