Compare two poems

Stephen Dunn 's The Sacred and Louis Simpson 's The Classic : A Comparison of Themes in Two Poems about Cars

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The car has become a part of modern culture all over the world . Like the personal computer and the television , the car is not simply the engine-run machine that it was decades ago . It has become symbolic of the personality and lifestyle of car owners , and in a macroscopic sense even a measure of the collective economic and social status of a community or society . The car is an

extension of its owner like his clothes . It is a necessity like having a home and drinking water . It is also a for everyday conversations as common as the weather . Two poems , Stephen Dunn 's The Sacred and Louis Simpson 's The Classic explore two differing viewpoints about owning a car and making it a part of one 's life

In The Sacred a teacher asks the class what their sacred places are One student points to his car as the most sacred place of all , being in it alone , his tape deck playing ' It is a place where he can be himself and only think about things he 'd chosen ' Other students speak about their rooms , but the car kept coming up . One could also play music in the room and expose one 's real self in the haven of this personal and private space exclusive to the room owner . However , it cannot beat the feeling of being in a car in motion ' Inside a speeding car , with the music and the hum of the engine filling the driver 's sense of consciousness is like being lost in prayer or meditation . Praying to the bright altar of the dashboard ' takes the individual sitting behind the wheel far away ' into a trancelike state where he simply concentrates on the road , the traffic , speeding along and nothing else . The car is a sacred place because in the few minutes or hours when one is driving , the experience makes the person achieve a certain high . The poem elevates the car by ascribing these elements of sacredness to it

While The Sacred is a romantic way of viewing the role of the car in the life of its owner , American Classic is realistic to the point of being harsh in its criticism about the car . The first image presented in the poem , a car stopped off the road / and a man trying to repair it is described by the poet as a classic American scene ' Meanwhile , a woman , the companion , stays in the car .and stares back at the freeway traffic ' Both people look surprised and ashamed / to be helpless ' They blame their car for putting them into the shameful predicament of being stuck in the middle of the road while traffic goes by them , the other cars seemingly better and more dependable than theirs . They feel betrayed : to think that their car would do this While the first poem is...