SHORT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS of The Retreat
1. 'Some men a forward motion love. And I by backward steps would move' Why does the poet long to travel back? Where does he want to go? Ans. The poet is engrossed in material pursuits and he feels that he is in worldly fetters being oblivious of the pristine divine glory of childhood. So unlike other people he wants to move backwards instead of going forward. His heart longs for the innocence of childhood that was invested with the angelic goodness and celestial thought when he seems to be bowed down under the heavy pressure of sinfulness. So he wants to go back to his ‘first love’ i.e. God from whom he has been divorced long ago. He wants to break a...