Christopher Columbus, one of the most famous explorers, tried to find a passage to India by going west, but found the West Indies instead. Evidently he didn't find what he was looking for. Like Columbus, the man in the poem “The Explorer” by Gwendolyn Brooks also does not find what he is looking for. Brooks' explorer tries to find a quiet refuge where he doesn't have to make any decisions, where all is peace. In this poem, Brooks uses figurative language, diction, and structure to demonstrate not only man's struggle for tranquility, but also humanity's ongoing search for peace. From the first stanza, the reader encounters Brooks' ability to use figurative language in his poetry. :"[T]he worn-out inner necessity, the tortuous, worn-out hope whose shreds he kept searching for in the din. A satin peace somewhere" (2-6). This extended metaphor compares the explorer's desire for peace to an unraveling fabric. Once very beautiful, the satin, which represented his desire for quiet and calm, has worn out and the man is left chasing a remnant of his previous dream. Brooks also uses personification to show the power that inanimate objects have over him. “A room of cunning silence” escapes the man (7), and he hears “[t]he cry of nervous affairs” behind the doors (13). The choices he fears making “cry out to be made” (17). In the real world, rooms, deals, and choices make no sound and have no human characteristics, but by giving them human attributes, Brooks makes them even more powerful and more personal than they ever could have been on their own. They have weight and meaning, just like in real life. Although the rooms may not be intentionally deceptive and the choices and deals make no sound, these aspects of l...... middle of paper ...... "There were no boundaries./There were no quiet rooms" (18-19 ). Unlike the rest of the poem, this stanza has two defined sentences, which creates a more emphatic and choppy rhythm. This sudden change, combined with the words of the verse, show very clearly that the noise and choices will never end and he will never find peace. It is scary to think that this could be the fate of humanity. The man of poetry seeks asylum from the chaos of the world, but finds only anxiety and disharmony. Like the man in the poem, humanity faces an endless search for refuge from restlessness and decisions. Humanity fears the choices to be made and craves tranquility. Brooks presents this struggle in his poem, "The Explorer," and uses figurative language, diction, and structure to explain it. The man's search, however, is less lyrical and is not narrated with poetic devices.