The title of the poem - "Breathless" tells us that the author is quite exhausted. The opening of the poem explains the title and helps to further the exhaustion of the poet by stating that his heart ached and lungs panted. The words 'dry air sorry, scant' helps the reader to visualize and experience the scarcity and dryness of the air. The line 'why at all' in line 6 gives us an impression that the poet is not sure why he is willing to go through so much suffering and pain in order to climb up the steep mountain.
The act of 'prodding' through snow is a tiring act and yet the poet calls it the 'easiest way' in line 10 which helps to show how difficult it was to climb up the steep slope. He also calls 'a flat step' a 'holiday'; here, he is the exhausting and pain staking climb with a flat step, which in comparison, seems to be very simple and relaxing.
In, Lines 13 to 16, the poet looks up and sees that there is no one else within miles climbing the mountain. He then feels a sense of loneliness because he doesn't have any companions. The tone of these four lines seems to be of regret, as he doesn't truly understand why he is going through so much anguish. In lines 19 and 20, he tells himself 'look up till the journeys done' indicating that he did not really like what he saw previously and would rather not think about what lied ahead of him - endless miles of vertical rock.
However, in line 21, he tells himself that he 'must look up', which is clearly a contradiction with the previous two lines. The contradiction is there because the poet is not sure himself if he wants to continue to climb up the mountain or not. Strong words such as 'faltering' and 'wrench' are used in lines 23 and 24 to help to show how tired the poet is and how his limbs are not really responding to his commands. Between lines 25 and 36, the word one is repeated several times. This has two effects, firstly, it seems to show how tired the poet is; secondly, it slows the pace of the climb down to a near standstill, which is furthered by the tempo created by words like 'pause' and 'dragging'. The last 4 lines are a repetition of the first four, which is by far the most succinct and powerful sentence within the poem. This reminds the reader that even after writing the poem, the conditions have not changed and that the poet's heart is still aching and lungs still panting.
Some poetic devices are used to increase the effect of the poem. The poem does have a rhyme scheme, which allows poem to be a lot more powerful by allowing certain sounds of fatigue to linger in the minds of the reader. There is also some alliteration: 'many miles' helps to increase the height of the mountain; 'breath swings back' helps to add a sense of haste to the regaining of the poets breath while 'sorry scant' makes the amount of air seem a lot less.
There is an extended metaphor in the poem where the poet compares climbing a mountain with things people do in life. He doesn’t understand why people willing to go through so much suffering to achieve their personal goals, which more often than not, just end up as memories. This poem reminds me of my past, when I used to train for ice skating competitions. It took me a long time before I could master some of the more difficult moves, often falling hard on the ice. This led to a lot of frustration and pain; however, I did quite well in some of the competitions. Sadly, I do not ice skate anymore due to time constraints and these events are only a distant memory to me. However, these memories are satisfying memories and I believe that people should try their very best, even if it means going through pain and suffering, to achieve their personal goals.