Hi!

I need help on analyzing "All the Spikes But the Last" by F.R. Scott. Specifically, it would be great if you could help me with the theme, style, and the effectiveness of the poet in getting his point across to the reader. Also, why and how F.R. Scott directly referred to E.J. Pratt's "Towards the last Spike." According to Scott's poem, Pratt never mentions or acknowledges the hardwork and the sacrifice that the Chinese immigrant workers had to undergo in building the CPR in his poem, "Towards the Last Spike", but is this true? Does Pratt actually never mention the Chinese? Moreover, is there a reason for Scott in the way that he arranges/organizes the phrases within the poem (i.e. always asking questions, and mostly not finishing the question and already going to the next line, thus fragmenting the sentences)?

All the Spikes But the Last ~ F. R. Scott ~

Where are the coolies in your poem, Ned?
Where are the thousands from China who swung
their picks with bare hands at forty below?

Between the first and the million other spikes
they drove, and the dressed-up act of
Donald Smith, who has sung their story?

Did they fare so well in the land they helped to
unite? Did they get one of the 25,000,000 CPR shares?

Is all Canada has to say to them written in the Chinese
Immigration Act?

Towards the Last Spike
---EJ Pratt

It was the same world then as now -- the same,
Except for little differences of speed
And power, and means to treat myopia
To show an axe-blade infinitely sharp
Splitting things infinitely small, or else
Provide the telescopic sight to roam
Through curved dominions never found in fables.
The same, but for new particles of speech --
Those algebraic substitutes for nouns
That sky cartographers would hang like signboards
Along the trespass of our thoughts to stop
The stutters of our tongues with their equations.

As now, so then, blood kept its ancient colour,
And smoothly, roughly, paced its banks; in calm
Preserving them, in riot rupturing them.
Wounds needed bandages and stomachs food:
The hands outstretched had joined the lips in prayer --
'Give us our daily bread, give us our pay.'
The past flushed in the present and tomorrow
Would dawn upon today: only the rate
To sensitize or numb a nerve would change;
Only the quickening of a measuring skill
To gauge the onset of a birth or death
With the precision of micrometers.
Men spoke of acres then and miles and masses,
Velocity and steam, cables that moored
Not ships but continents, world granaries,
The east-west cousinship, a nation's rise,
Hail of identity, a world expanding,
If not the universe: the feel of it
Was in the air -- 'Union required the Line.'
The theme was current at the banquet tables,
And arguments profane and sacred rent
God-fearing families into partisans.
Pulpit, platform and floor were sounding-boards;
Cushions beneath the pounding fists assumed
The hues of western sunsets; nostrils sniffed
The prairie tang; the tongue rolled over texts:
Even St. Paul was being invoked to wring
The neck of Thomas in this war of faith
With unbelief. Was ever an adventure
Without its cost? Analogies were found
On every page of history or science.
A nation, like the world, could not stand still.
What was the use of records but to break them?
The tougher armour followed the new shell;
The newer shell the armour; lighthouse rockets
Sprinkled their stars over the wake of wrecks.
Were not the engineers at work to close
The lag between the pressures and the valves?
The same world then as now thirsting for power
To crack those records open, extra pounds
Upon the inches, extra miles per hour.
The mildewed static schedules which before
Had like asbestos been immune to wood
Now curled and blackened in the furnace coal.
This power lay in the custody of men
From down-and-outers needing roofs, whose hands
Were moulded by their fists, whose skins could feel
At home incorporate with dolomite,
To men who with the marshal instincts in them,
Deriving their authority from wallets,
Directed their battalions from the trestles.

Les

Here are some of my thoughts.

pam

--Also, why and how F.R. Scott directly referred to E.J. Pratt's "Towards the last Spike."

The first line of Scott's work is directly addressing Pratt, assuming that E stands for Edward (Ned). Also, the title reminds us of it.

--According to Scott's poem, Pratt never mentions or acknowledges the hardwork and the sacrifice that the Chinese immigrant workers had to undergo in building the CPR in his poem, "Towards the Last Spike", but is this true?

What do you think?


--Does Pratt actually never mention the Chinese?

Depends on if the Chinese are included here.

This power lay in the custody of men
From down-and-outers needing roofs, whose hands
Were moulded by their fists, whose skins could feel
At home incorporate with dolomite,

--Since earlier Pratt mentions the arguments between 'God-fearing families' and pulpits, you could argue that Pratt is only including Christians and excluding 'pagan' foreigners.

--Moreover, is there a reason for Scott in the way that he arranges/organizes the phrases within the poem (i.e. always asking questions, and mostly not finishing the question and already going to the next line, thus fragmenting the sentences)?

I don't think so- to me, he's trying to keep a similar rhythm in the lines. Notice that Pratt doesn't finish sentences at the end of the line either.

pam