Can you help me interpret this poem?

Question

~The Goose~
by Muriel Spark

Do you want to know why I am alive today?
I will tell you.
Early on, during the food-shortage,
Some of us were miraculously presented
Each with a goose that laid a golden egg.
My self, I killed the cackling thing and I ate it.
Alas, many and many of the other recipients
Died of gold-dust poisoning.

I read it from a book called " Good Poems for Hard Times",
and I couldn't get it, especially the last sentence.
Some one good at poems please help.

Answer 1

It's a metaphor for people who are greedy and starving themselves of life in the pursuit of the prospect of riches. The author lived because he didn't care about pursuing gold -- he just ate the goose.

Answer 2

I don't like it much.. but as others say its about people dying for their greed- of gold dust poisoning lol. Note how it addresses the reader directly with the first line "Do you want to know why I am alive today?", so it could act as a warning or they could be bragging about how clever they are lol.

I guess as its in a book callled good poems for hard times it could be telling people not to lose their heads in times of hunger and despair. I mean, I would have sold the egg and eaten the duck myself lol

I can't really see any other poetry technique, but I'm only an A-level student so I'm not that experienced at poetry.

Answer 3

The first two lines of Walt Whitman's poem "Miracles" says it all: "Why, Who Makes Much of a Miracle?" "As to me, I know nothing of else but miracles,". One does not need a degree in English literature to enjoy or understand this poem, and in reading further, it is like drinking a class of fine wine, it just gets better and better, and the more you read, the more immersed you become. For Walt Whitman, walking down the streets in Manhattan is a miracle. How many of us who are older can remember in early fall, right when the evening starts to fall, walking home from school or sports practice, when everything is quiet, and cars are making last minute trips home, and the sky is turning pink before the darkness begins to set in, or that smell in the air of anticipation of things to look forward to, dinner at the table with one's family, or a quiet conversation with one's mother, or an event where one will see a best friend? Or how many of us can remember an early summer morning, sitting in the grass, watching bees, feeling the sun on our faces, watching our neighbors hang their laundry, witnessing the rhythm of life that doesn't get an interview on the news or an article in the newspaper? Indeed, it might get a picture in the art gallery, but most people would pass it by. We say, "The best things in Life are free", and indeed, the message of this poem is not only that real miracles are not only right in front of us, and something we really are grateful for if we would only stop for a minute to realize it, but also, that this poem needs no interpretation to understand it or feel it; it is there for everyone to experience and understand.

Answer 4

hmm

i love that poem! i've never read it til now but it's great!

i guess it could mean that the person didn't care for the production of the goose (the eggs), it wanted the manufacturor to eat! kind of like not wanting the milk,but eating the cow. i suppose there could be some greater sociological or higher meaning that can be found in this but i can't think right now. also, it's about not following the pack. the person talking did what no one else did, and lived to tell about it.

Answer 5

OH MY! the irony!
yes, the last line is probably the most straightforward of the poem. Everyone else who received a goose ate the golden egg...and died of gold-dust poisoning (died for their greed) The narrator just ate the goose. the person above me pretty much nailed it. As morbid as it sounds, i like this poem!

Answer 6

I think the goose represents "life", i think the author is saying that he had 2 choices, the golden egg represents wealth\greed. I think she may be saying that people get greedy and fearfull and end up considering wealth more important than life and end up loosing their lives to it. It could have many meanings. People wanted life to get rich by it but she wanted life itself.

Answer 7

For me, it means that rather than dine on the eggs, she ate the goose.

Those who dined on the eggs died from the poisoning

Answer 8

It doesnt mean anything its just a bunch of words.

Answer 9

exactly :C