Beyond Hammonton By Stephen Dunn

Every person is nourished by the fact of forgetting the past, forgiving themselves of their past mistake and moving on with life, but does that suggestion clear an individual’s future path? In his poem, Beyond Hammonton, Stephen Dunn communicates that loss of faith haunts a person at every turn of their life; a person without faith is lost. This is shown by the use of various literary devices such as the tone and repetition within the poem.
Dunn has used an effective persuasive tone to convey the message of hopelessness. He says: “Wishing I were someone on whom nothing is lost” (Dunn 3-4). This quote portrays the message that if life throws something at a person, he or she should make the best of it; a person should put everything to good use. Nothing should be lost, whether it be education, money, a small piece of advice or a conversation. Dunn wishes to be a person “on whom nothing is lost,” thus revealing to the readers that he wishes to take every negative moment or emotion and convert it to a positive …show more content…
Dunn says: “So much then is duty, duty, duty.” (Dunn 17) He is describing that his life does not have any meaning. It is useless, he wakes up like a robot every morning, finishes his job and then he goes back home thinking about the main purpose of his life. Dunn emphasizes on the word “duty” because he is telling us that his life is useless and boring. ; he does not want to change it. “duty” portrays that his life is no less than that of a robot; he must follow the same routine daily to survive in this world. Every day the higher power pulls his string, and he finishes his job then goes back home to think about the main purpose of life. This repetition on “duty” gets the point across that he feels hopeless, he does not have a life of his own; instead, he just walks the life that was given to him. Dunn cannot change this since he feels as though he has not