Yikes. Change can be a scary word sometimes. We don't know how we'll feel after the change and we're often wondering about it before it even happens. Change is a tricky phenomenon and we get a sense of this in "Fog." Sometimes it's forced upon us and sometimes we may want things to change, even though that might not happen. Still, when change does occur, we're often feeling like our speaker, wondering how it got there in the first place and what will happen once it's gone.
Questions About Change
- How do we know time has passed in the poem and that the fog has changed in appearance?
- What does change feel like in this poem? Does it make us feel excited, anxious, inspired, confused?
- Why is a cat a perfect symbol for change? What kind of behavior is often equated to cats?
- Is the length of the poem any indication as to how quickly change might occur? Why or why not?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Change is often healthy and necessary. Heck, even Mother Nature seems to think so as she "moves on" in Sandburg's poem.
Change is nothing more than a state of mind. We're always the same in the end, no matter if a fog is falling on our heads or not.