Amidst his somewhat vivid descriptions; “jammed midday brilliance crouches in clearings…” he comes to a sudden halt, as if he has arrived at this unknown existence somewhat rapidly. Murray uses alliteration quite effectively at this stage, portraying the town to be somewhat simple and inferior, “bare hamlets built of boards.” In the concluding lines of the first stanza, we observe the speaker presuming what lies ahead of him, his diction providing a sense of simplicity. He uses the word “perhaps” twice, further portraying to us the presumptions he is making about the town which lies before him.
The second stanza describes the speaker’s venture into the sawmill town, and the observations he makes. This stanza goes into far more detail than does the first. He begins with describing what he can externally observe and that is the mills. Murray uses the word “iron” in the description of the roofs of the mills and not without reason. There is suddenly a sense of crudeness in his description, and the word “iron” radiates strength. He drives past the mill’s not leaving the shelter of his vehicle but still can make observation to the proceedings of the mill as they “have no walls,” allowing him to “look straight in” as he passes. He describes “swerve” of the winch, rendering a sense of grace and then suddenly uses “dim” and “dazzling,” words of almost completely opposite meaning, next to each other. His alliteration here provides a strong contrast to the “swerve” of the winch observed before. He describes how the “dim dazzling blades” approach the trunks upon the trolley until the trunks “sag apart,” as if it is one smooth process without flaw. He has either witnessed the complete process which takes place in the mills or he goes on to imagine the “manifold sprawl of weatherboards and battens,” as there is lacking evidence to suggest whether he actually does witness the end product or he merely envisages what is to become of the trunk which is met by the blade.
The second stanza further goes on to describe the workers which work in these mills. They watch him pass, but when the speaker stops his car and asks for directions, the tall youths chose to look away; but the older men “come out.” This directly indicates that driver has still not left the enclosure of his car, and is still far separated from his surroundings. The speaker describes in great detail, the appearance of the older men who wear “blue singlets” and even goes as far as describing their tone of voice, that being “soft;” but not does he make mention of the word’s that were exchanged, again hitting upon the sense of superiority the speaker feels over he’s surrounds. He may have regarded what the old men had to say as unimportant or that not worthy of mention. He concludes the second stanza much like he did the first in the sense that he describes the “creek” in the first stanza” and the “trickle” of the smoke out of the mounds of ash and sawdust. It seems that water is a common element by which he makes reference to in each stanza.
The third stanza relates to what the women of the town, as he “glides on through town.” The use of the word “glide” in essence expresses the shortness of his trip through the town, moving on with much haste from the workers in the sawmills. As a result we can see that the speaker wishes to have no business in the town, and he seeks a quick departure. The speaker describes the houses to be wearing “verandahs out of shyness,” once again explaining the simple and modest existence of the town, as if the verandahs were to cover up the modest house’s which lay behind them. It seems as if the women of the town lead a very boring and monotonous life where not much happens, in “calendared kitchens,” they hope that they hear the cry of even a lost child, as that would be far more eventful than anything that happens around there. “a cry from the mill, a footstep-,“ the speaker suddenly stops after the footstep and moves on to “nothing happens.” Footsteps signifying the extent of simplicity by which the women in this sawmill town live their lives.
“Or a plain young wife… will turn around and gaze at the mountains in wonderment, looking for a city.” Murray here introduces the idea that the people of this town seek a better place. What the speaker observes in this stanza, which is the emotion and presence of the women in the town, shows us that life in these sawmill towns is far from exciting, or eventful. And in the conclusion of this stanza he portrays to us the want for the people of this town to seek escape from it, finding a better place.
Come stanza 4 and the speaker starts by saying that the “Evenings are very quiet;” But only in the previous stanza did he explain how quiet the lives of the women actually were. Is it evening all the time for these women, in these “calendared kitchens?” You’d think not considering the choice of describing the kitchens as being, “calendared,” meaning they would have a sense of time. Even the house’s are stuck in this rut of nothingness that they “watch each other”, so much so as a light “going out in a window here has meaning.”
The speaker at the beginning arrived in the town driving “without haste,” but by stanza 4 he “speeds away through the upland.” It is in great contrast to that of his driving at the beginning, as if he had seen enough and it is best that he not return, speeding away. Murray goes on to describe the town how it is in the different seasons, perhaps suggesting that the driver tries to find some quality in the town by looking at it as it may be in the summer, or the winter.
He ends the poem by describing the men “rolling a dead match” between their fingers and of them thinking of the future. The dead match may be a symbol for the town. It was once alight but it is now dead, and is left rolling between the fingers of a superior being, much like the speaker, “rolling” the town between his fingers. They sit there thinking of the future, and it seems that it is one which is monotonous and one where change is not imminent.
Murray’s poem describes vividly the journey of this man into a town unknown to him. He arrives driving without haste, but leaves speeding away. What he observes in the town is something that he is quite detached from, never leaving his vehicle, and what he witnesses is quite inferior to that of what he is used to. This poem depicts the main aspects of a sawmill town, but this through the eyes of what seems to be someone from a city area, alien to such an existence. We learn a lot about the driver through his observations, and much about his actual perception of the town itself. Much of what he describes was not actually witnessed by him, but are mere presumptions, such as the existence of the women.
