Out+West

Out West is youthful Manhire's imaginary place where he can excaspe life. Doggone is an expression of anger or frustration but in the poem Manhire takes it literally showing that this was written for the perspective of a young child, enjoying pretending to be in the wild west in his imagination. This is shown through many typical west sayings, such as 'Hither and yon', 'varmint', 'doggone' and 'mosey' And the end of the poem the mentions towards the women is relating to reality and grown up things. Love is not for children. Manhire is ignoring the realities of life and pretending to part of this imaginary fun world where he can be whoever he wants to be. The use of the fictorial cliches and real words allow Manhire to blur between his fictional imaginary world and reality. -Izzy

As Ms Macdonald said this poem shows the child's love for words and learning. One thing that I found interesting was that after he looked up the dictionary for the meaning of "varmint" the speaker begins to use interesting and out of place words "gulches, sages, mosey." This in my opinion shows the development and growth of the vocabulary of the child, emphasizing the theme of his love for words. With the end of the poem I had a different idea than Izzy's, although I agree with the statement that love is not for children. When Manhire writes "walking to find us gone" it made me think that perhaps it involves rejection of some sort, perhaps rejection of a mother figure for the child - another side of the poem? -Theon

I like Izzy's idea that the use of fictorial cliches in form of idioms such as "hither and yon" and real words allow Manhire to blur between his fictional imaginary world and reality. The restlessness of "Wild Bill" and his "best-loved horse" demonstrates the loss of stability in his life. They never stay at the same place but move "hither and yon". This idiom emphasizes to the idea of restlessness as they keep on moving from here to there. It seems to me as Manhire would try to escape from reality which is resembled in the woman "waking to find us gone". This makes him to an outlaw in society and ordinary people describe him as a "varmint". -Lorenz

This poem is almost like a fantasy land where manhire can go to escape the world and be his own little fantasies. This is almost like a childs perspective along with the inquisitive nature of a child. and the joy of finding out new words and funny sounding words such as varmine. Also the joy that he gets when he finds out the word doggone actually makes the dog go away, into the gulches and sages. - David

It certainly seems to be written from the point of view of a child, with hyperboles such as 'one of the best-loved horses in the world' making this obvious. His obsession with Western language seems to be that of a child also, as being born in 1946, Manhire would have been raised and experienced his childhood in a world in which Western cartoons and cowboys were adored and idolised. Many young boys would have had aspirations of being a cowboy when they were grown and so, this supports Izzy's earlier statement of him mixing reality and fantasy worlds, as he seems to be living out his fantasies as a cowboy in his imagination but, at the same time, the 'woman -/ lonely and beautiful - waking to find us gone', also a common element of cowboy stories, could represent his aspirations of fame or having attention centred around him, as most children would like. -Abby

Like Abby I agree that is written from the point of view of a child. His obsession with Western language as well like Abby says takes the form of a young persons "What's it say... What's it say..." The poem seems in some cases fictional and imagionary but also develops the child as it goes on. - Lu'isa

I believe that the end of the poem signifies the need for adventure. As a child, the narrator loves to explore, and learn, and as such he wants to explore the world. Miles from home, his mother wakes up. He is part of the world, living and learning where as his mother is still in a conventional lifestyle. I think the poem is saying that we all, like a child, want to go out and explore, but like his mother, we instead stay indoors and do nothing. We do not embrace our child-like lust to explore. - Jacob

This poem is like Magasin in that it is written in a very childish manner. 'Out West' is about an adult man escaping the harshness of reality and just being a child for awhile. Hyperboles in the first stanza, 'best-loved horses in the world'... 'in and out of the known universe' show the reader that we are dealing with a child. Wild West phrases like 'varmint, doggone' again show the simplistic mind of a child. It is only at the very end of the poem when Manhire addresses his adult life talking about a woman awaking and finding him gone. A break from the stresses that cloud adult life is often needed. Chelsea

The wild west is always depicted to be fast-paced and exciting, which are similar emotions the author feels at the start of the poem, when he is riding is 'best-loved horse'. The amusement of the author is evident and highlighted by the parallel structure in the line 'hither and yon, we went, here and there, in and out".Therefore this supports the idea of the author escaping his everyday problems in reality as this recollection of his childhood or fantasy is his 'happy place'. Ultimately the author is forced to grow up (represented by the event of looking a word up in the dictionary) and he is abandoned by the dog and his friends, leaving just the horse (author's happy memory) and himself. -Winstan

The wild west is certainly evident in this poem, in storyline as well as in language. "hither and yon", "doggone", "mosey" and "Wild Bill" are all Wild West references and the fact that horses are constantly mentioned also emphasises this. The idea that this might be an imaginery world, whether it be in a dream or just through Bill's imagination as a child is introduce with the line "in and out of the known universe" and Manhire's love of words as a child is introduced as he says "hither and yon... here and there, in and out" all of which mean similar things but instead of saying one he uses a triplet. Also, he goes straight to a dictionary, intent on discovering the meaning of a new word. There is also a bit of a pun at the end when Bill talks about a couple on a romantic stroll. In reality this won't happen for a long time in his life and in his imaginary world it is he and his horse and they "mosey along crossing the ford" which is a very horse and rifer like thing to do as well as something that could be seen as a romantic evening stroll. The final line is interesting "waking to find us gone" and almost seems to represent some sort of abandonmnet by the children of their mother. It could just be referring to the children playing their imaginary games, gone to the world of reality. James