Hi, I am doing an assignment on inner journeys and I am looking for some related texts, I have chosen to do Robert Frost's 'the road not taken poem', but i need another one aswell, so If anyone knows of a poem that deals with inner journeys that would be very much appretiated!
Thankyou.

Kara, here's one which might work for you:

When First I Came Here
by Edward Thomas

WHEN first I came here I had hope,
Hope for I knew not what. Fast beat
My heart at the sight of the tall slope
Or grass and yews, as if my feet

Only by scaling its steps of chalk
Would see something no other hill
Ever disclosed. And now I walk
Down it the last time. Never will

My heart beat so again at sight
Of any hill although as fair
And loftier. For infinite
The change, late unperceived, this year,

The twelfth, suddenly, shows me plain.
Hope now,--not health nor cheerfulness,
Since they can come and go again,
As often one brief hour witnesses,--

Just hope has gone forever. Perhaps
I may love other hills yet more
Than this: the future and the maps
Hide something I was waiting for.

One thing I know, that love with chance
And use and time and necessity
Will grow, and louder the heart's dance
At parting than at meeting be.

Les

What's an inner journey - spelunking?

Spelunking is so much nicer a word than caving, which is all its ever called in Britain. Where does the word come from?

Comes from the good old days when Latin was a regular part of the school curriculum, from 'spelunca' meaning a cave.

That's a fair question Hugh has asked, Kara. Tell us what YOU mean by 'inner journey'.

Are you looking for another poem, or just for another 'text'?

If you want a poem, and if you regard a trip down memory lane as an inner journey, perhaps this one would do:

I Remember, I Remember
by Thomas Hood

I remember, I remember
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn;
He never came a wink too soon
Nor brought too long a day;
But now, I often wish the night
Had borne my breath away.

I remember, I remember
The roses, red and white,
The violets, and the lily-cups—
Those flowers made of light!
The lilacs where the robin built,
And where my brother set
The laburnum on his birthday,—
The tree is living yet!

I remember, I remember
Where I was used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh
To swallows on the wing;
My spirit flew in feathers then
That is so heavy now,
And summer pools could hardly cool
The fever on my brow.

I remember, I remember
The fir-trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky:
It was a childish ignorance,
But now ’tis little joy
To know I’m farther off from Heaven
Than when I was a boy.

Try this one I wrote it myself

MY MOTHERS SPECIAL GIFT

As I sit here thinking of the days gone by.
I begin to shake and I begin to cry.
I remember a special gift my mother gave to me.
How it went right to my heart where it was meant to be.
Oh it wasn't made of diamonds or it wasn't made of gold.
Oh it wasn't made of paper and it wasn't really old.
You see it had no value to any one but me.
Though it really helped to set me free.
Oh I remember that special gift as though I got it yesterday.
How she made sure I had it before she passed away.
You see her days were numbered and the end was near.
Though I never told anybody I was full of fear.
For I knew my mom was dying and there was nothing I could do.
I had seen all the pain and suffering that she had to go through.
I remember thinking why couldn't it be me.
For everybody loved her but no one cared for me.
Then one day it happened, to the hospital she did go.
The ambulance came and got her but it seemed really slow.
That night the doctor told us there was nothing he could do.
At the most she had left a day or maybe two.
The next day I went to see her in her hospital bed.
That’s when to my younger brother she lovingly said.
Please let your older brother kiss me good-bye last.
For you have always gotten it in the days that past.
Then I bent and kissed her and the fear inside did go.
For I knew shed always love me that kiss had told me so.
You see it wasn't made of diamonds or it wasn't made of gold.
But it had more value than anything that’s sold.
That night as I lay thinking of that special kiss we shared.
I knew deep in my heart just how much she really cared.
At that very moment I looked into the sky.
There was a new star shinning my mother said good-bye.

I WILL LOVE YOU ALWAYS MOM


By: Roger Crowder

I was gonna let this poem slip away until you posted it three times. It's really really bad, Roger.

Worst line:

For you have always gotten it in the days that past.

sorry Hugh I'm new at this thing I really didn't know what I was doing

I wont do it again

this is another piece from the stimulus booklet if your doing year twelve, its a good one for the inner journey...

'the town where timestands still' by Shirley Geok-Lin Lim

Travellers through the centuries have threaded their baser motives of profit and pleasure with a subtler, and sometimes even unconscious, compulsion - the search for the genii loci. In the the purer realm of travel, which has nothing to do with vacations, humans hope to be moved rather than to move. They seek an external geography that will act on their internal psycology like an irresistable force, so they will return to the place fromwhich they came blessedan altered.

not a poem i know... but itdepicts the inner journey well and is generally over looked in the stimulus booklet, good luck

ooo man dats reallly deep is it true?

and can i get like your analysis on it

i am also doing an assignment on other related texts to inner journeys i hope noone minds if i use those poems and inner journey is a journey physical, imaginary or magical that results in a mental journey leading to self discovery and or understanding. so if neone has seen nething that could relate to this could they let us know thanx!

i am also doing an assessment on inner journeys i was curious to know if anybody could find a poem that i could use as an ort. thankyou very much, have a lovely day!

if you are looking for texts other than poems I suggest:
-The Ivory Trail by Victor Kelleher (book cover)
-Blood on the Tracks by Renay Walker (short story)
-Journey to the Interior by Margaret Atwood (poem)

Three beautifully written books centred around journeys - two classics and one near-classic. All of them purporting to be factual, and all shown by later research to include a considerable degree of exaggeration and imagination (and in the first two, outright falsification), which could qualify them for the category of 'imaginary journey':

'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom' by T.E.Lawrence

'Venture To The Interior' by Laurens Van Der Post

'The Songlines' by Bruce Chatwin

do you have any shortewr peoms on inner jouneys that are easily understood so it is easy for me to understand and expain? also... what makes an inner journey?

Roger Crowder.... OMG that poem about your mum was absolutely beautiful! it even made me cry! it was so heartfelt and full of emotion, it really touched me.. its a really powerful poem, and you should be very proud that you can write something that beautiful! I am also in year 12 and need a poem, and guess whos im going to use?? .. i'm so sorry about your mum...may she rest in peace.

if i can offer any advice let it be this, unless your freaky good at these things dont do the road not taken, its been done to death and im pretty sure the markers wont notice yours amongst the other 10000. A good alternative would be journey to the interior and also 'the town where timestands still' by Shirley Lim which i think mat mentioned b4.
Oh and inner journey seems to be the least popular so i spose any half decent related text you do will be aiight

Btw for those non aussy students/ex students, inner journey is apparently a journey of the "inner self" in which a persona undergoes an emotional or spiritual epiphany or revelation... or something like that =).

here you go

Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are i think i know
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound'd the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But i have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

I see it as a he's having an inner journey, as in a daydream, and he is thinking of the woods as the dark, unknown that he wants to discover, but knows that before he can stop and rest forever, he has things he has to do.
i also see it as he thinks it's kind of mischief, "He will not see me stopping here", there is more but i'm too lazy to write it, and i'm sure you'll think of other things that you see relate to the Inner journey

One of the simplest ways to define inner journeys is to think of them as movements where a person does not actually have to go anywhere. The obvious literal expedition is absent, replaced by a movemtn of ideas and understanding. A person may have begun at one point of belief or acceptance but moves to a different point of understanding.
Inner journeys, occur within. They tend to be introspective realisations or understandings. It is easy to see most inner journeys as being about growth as any new idea or the exploration of a concept can be seen as a development of the mind. One common type of inner journey is the journey from ignorance to knowledge. This knowledge could relate to anything, even the learning of the issue. Where someone develops and understanding about something they have undertaken a journey. Since it was a journey within the mind it is an inner journey

Hey guys...i am also doing an assignment on inner journeys....but after reading the things you guys had written have really helped me and i will use them. So thanx for just even discussing this whole thing you guys actually no more than i think you think u no yourself so keep up the good work.....than...Mandi

i fink dis is kool how u ppl help out...im also doing an assesment task on inner journey and i get heaps of help from dis site!! thanxz to all da ppl who help out...coz u helped me out lots!! thanxz heaps!!

that is a really nice poem thecrowder, not to be rude or anything but is the poem true?

yes It very true It happened to me over 23 years ago and thanks for all the complements everyone

1/2 or more of miss emily's canon are introspective, written to an audience
of one-you, the reader are evesdropping on her thoughts
you should be able to find several analysis on # 303, 'the soul selects
her own society.' (far to many actually, and while most are close to the
meaning of the poem, their not quite on the mark.)
this is a divorce between miss emily and all others in society-her choice.
she is 'going her own way.' 'others,' society in general could not meet
her needs.
therefore, she went her own way. it is also a rationalization for her behavior...there is more, much more, but to fully illustrate that one would
have to cite other works.
remember, as long as you can argue 'with conviction,' any stance you
take is acceptable; however, while you write to the topic, you also must
be aware that this essay is must met your goals, and (!) the one who is
going to grade it. acume and excellence is not always recognized in the
classroom.

help
i am doing an assessment task for inner journey and need a poem, interview, song... anything but a movie or novel. Please help me. it needs to be complex as well as for I am a advanced student. Thanks so much if you can help...

How about Donald Hall's poem "Affirmation."

It begins---

To grow old is to lose everything.
Aging, everybody knows it.
Even when we are young,
we glimpse it sometimes, and nod our heads
when a grandfather dies.
Then we row for years on the midsummer
pond, ignorant and content. But a marriage,

(and it continues on beautifully . . .)

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post an entire poem here or not---

Lisa

Not without breaking his copyright, no. Still, it is possible to link the poem where it appears elsewhere. What is the difference? Yeah, the point becomes a bit moot at some, uh, point.

[www.poemhunter.com]

Hugh---

Thank you so much for finding that poem here online.

I type in stuff but it doesn't always pull up
what I'd like. Strange,
sometimes by typing in the same words with a comma
or even spelled wrong has miraculous results.

I only say this from a weird year long experience
that after miles around the US, something very important was revealed
here online.

Strange place this is.

Anyhow, thank you.

Lisa

Thanks, chicky babe. That makes it somewhat clearer.

I wonder whether a journey through memories, or through ideas, could also count as an 'inner journey', even if emotions aren't involved. My other comment on your definition is that while journeys (of whatever kind) may result in learning, or in change, they don't necessarily do so.

Putting those points aside, and trying to find some poems involving introspection and emotion where the poetic persona ends up feeling changed, or feeling something has been learned, or both, here are three famous English poems that might suit. You can find all of them through the Classical Poet List at the top right of this thread. Each has some words with rare or obsolescent meanings that you might need to look up.

'On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer' by John Keats.

The poet reports that hearing a reading from George Chapman's book 'The Whole Works of Homer' (published 1614) has inspired him. He implies that it has opened his eyes to new possibilities in the poetic 'realms of gold'. He feels as enthralled as an astronomer who has discovered a new planet (possibly he had in mind Herschel's discovery of Uranus in 1781), or the Spanish explorer who first crossed the Isthmus of Panama and sighted the Pacific Ocean beyond. On that, he named the wrong man. He should have written 'Balboa' instead of 'stout Cortez', but that doesn't matter poetically.
Btw, 'stout' is one of those words: it doesn't mean fat, it means reliably brave.

'A Toccata of Galuppi's' by Robert Browning.

The poetic persona gets the shivers from hearing a toccata written by the long dead Venetian composer Galuppi. The music evokes for him imagined scenes of the dissolute social life of the young and wealthy in renaissance Venice. He is jolted out of his intellectual complacency and moved to pity and sadness and a feeling of his own mortality.

'Ulysses' by Tennyson

King Ulysses contemplates his life as a King. He finds it unrewarding and unexciting compared to his earlier life as a free-voyaging warrior and adventurer, and feels unappreciated by his subjects. He also feels old age creeping on. He comes to the realization that he doesn't want to go on ruling the kingdom. He would much rather head off with his old mates on another Odyssey while they all still can. History doesn't record that he did so, so we can conclude that it was just wishful thinking, but very nicely expressed.

Ian



Post Edited (01-11-05 15:35)

thank you so much this has really helped.

heyz can some one please help me? i have to write an essay, a feature article and a speech on physical journey and im thinking of doing the town where time stands still but im just not too sure how to relate it to all my other texts. And also im not too sure what the text is about.

Hi Kara,

Im laura, im in yr 12, so i know how u feel when u cant find anything, but i have found something if ud like to use it:

Broken Wings

Last night, as i sat there, i started to cry.
My wings were all broken,
and i just couldn't fly.
All the others were flying,
around and around.
But for me, i couldn't,
I remained on the ground.
My wings were so bad,
all rusted and torn.
From anger and hate,
to arrogance and scorn.
They wouldn't even flap,
being so out of repair.
But the thing that hurt most
no one seemed to care.
I sat there alone,
watching all others fly.
Not even getting up,
or attempting to try.
But then in one moment,
God was gracious to me.
He sent me a friend,
as i prayed on my knees.
His wings were pure white,
and his features aglow.
He was very strong,
which i soon came to know.
He picked me right up,
and flew to the highest mountain top.
I was really nervous
'cause there, he did stop.
He told me, "now fly,"
but "i can't" i said back.
"It's not your wings that are broken,
it's just confidence you lack."
I turned around and looked,
to check out my wings.
they looked so torn,
those pitiful things.
I'll catch you" he said,
"If you start to fall,
Just yell out my name,
I'll hear your call."
So i took a running start,
attempting to soar.
Exhilaration went through me,
like never before.
"i'm" flying!" i exclaimed,
"higher than kings."
"I'm flying!"
"flying with broken wings."

I hope this poem is useful to you even though it is a bit long, but i really liked it when i found it, and i hope you do to.

from Laura.

oh thank you so much Laura
this is a very nice poem and i have decided to use it. thanks greatly.

Hi les i was wondering if you could help mo anlysis the poem by edward thomas, when first i came here, i would ask for your help only that i am really bad at anlysising things such as peom if you could help me this would be very helpful.
thank you.

hey i was on this website emule.com and i can across your message asking for poems on inner journey and i am doing my hsc this year and i saw that you did it last year so i was wondering what poem you end up using? could you plz send me the name of it or something to help me out . thankz heaps plz help me out. jennie

hey i was on the website emule,com and i noticed you asked for help on inner journey poems i was wonderiong could you help me wat poem did u end up doing could u send it to me and help me out thankz jennie

Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness"

Psalm 73

Im doing yr 12 too, try " Journey of the Magi" by T. S Elliot

hey, every1!!my name is mary-rose & im a year 12 student...i gotta assessment in eng bout physical journeys (which includes inner and spiritual journey, overcoming obstacles...)
i need 4 texts of my own choosing: one from the BOS booklet (which i hav already chosen- the road not taken), a movie (also chosen) and 2 other texts of other forms (anything but poem & movie)...i reaally need help cos i cant seem 2 find ne gud 1s: not 2 easy but not 2 hard....thxxx heaps 4 help....this site has been really useful 2!!!thx....

hey kara im guessing your from tweed river high school cause we did that robert frost poem in our class.... im gonna beat u in our assesement task..........hahaha

was just wondering who wrote this poem?? as i need the name for my assessment... n also i was wondering if anyone knows any visual images related to inner journeys??? thanx xoxox

hey guys,
i came across this site and i am finding it very usefull. I am currently in year 12 aswell but i am studying 'Imaginative Journeys', i have assessments coming out my ears and i would really appreciate some help in finding different texts on the subject matter, imaginative journeys. poems, songs etc...
thanks, xo

Rebeka, type in the words "imaginative journey" into the search space above.

Les

hi im doing an essay on physical journeys and im wondering if you have any short stories on physical journey

Hey "me Too", Tweed River High Sux. And just because that Kara chick did Robert Frost doesnt' mean she goes there, everyone is doing it, its a set stimulus. aha

Hey I was wondering if anyone would be able to do an analysis or deconstruction of The cover of "The Ivory Trail" by Victor Kelleher and of "The Journey to the interior" by Margaret Atwood. I'd appreciate it heaps .
Thanks

what am i gona get out of it mkg ill do it but i want cash $$$

hey i have an exam tomorrow and i need to talk bout an inner journey poem from the stimulus book, im think road not taken or journey to the interior, can anyone suggest the best for me to do and point me in the direction of some info bout it talking bout it being an inner journey

help physical journey texts

movies:
- Around the world in 80 days (Jackie Chan)
- Rabbit proof Fence
-Indiana Jones movies
etc...
Poems:
-The journey of the magi T.S. Elliot
-immigrants at central station
-the bushwalkers
etc...
Novels:
-to kill a mockingbird
-looking for alibrandi
etc...
hope that helps Toya thats all i cld think of at the momemt if i think of ne thin else ill let ya knw...

that was a cool poem. i've decided to use it for inner journeys. could you please tell me who wrote it? i need to source it. thanks