Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 7-8
But for my children, I would have them keep their distance from the thickening center; corruption
Never has been compulsory, when the cities lie at the monster's feet there are left the mountains.
- The previous stanza was focused on "You" (the reader) and this one is more so about the speaker's own perspective ("I"). It looks like he's covering a lot of perspectives in a short amount of time to make the poem sound even more universal and cyclical. Check out our "Speaker" section for more on that.
- And the speaker has kids. Where do you think they're going during all of the decay and apocalyptic mess? According to line 7, the speaker is hoping to keep them far away from the center of the decaying empire, presumably far away from big cities where the corruption is.
- He also says that corruption is not something you have to participate in ("corruption never has been compulsory"). There's no stopping the decay but according to the speaker, you don't have to participate. There's still a choice that can be made here.
- Look out, though: monster alert. Apparently this monster is standing over our cities. Does that mean the speaker thinks only bad stuff happens in cities and only good stuff happens out in the country? Not necessarily. It's more helpful to think of cities here as stand-ins for the American republic, kind of in the same way the mountains represent all of nature. In both cases, what you've got here is some serious synecdoche.
- The speaker also says in line 8 that the cities are where the belly of the monster is. And when the whole empire gets gobbled up by that figurative "monster," nature ("mountains") might be the best place to hide.
- That might bring to mind the old idiom, "head for the hills!" It's nothing new to equate corruption with cities and safety with nature. Whether mountains or hills, nature is usually far away from where men are busy cutting deals and ending worlds.
- What's left when the monster (empire) is finished gobbling us all up? The mountains, of course. The speaker is making a clear distinction here between man's corruption and nature's purity. (Psst, check out our "Symbols, Imagery, Wordplay" section for more on the big bad monster.)