What is the meaning of the poem "I think continually of those who were truly great"?

The poem starts out sounding like an homage to great people in history. As the first stanza develops, however, the speaker seems to be saying more about how greatness is born of the connection between generations and the connection between humanity and nature.

The great ones remember the soul's history, meaning they understand the past. They have a significant, maybe even spiritual, connection to human history and world history. The "endless and singing" "corridors of light" represent the perpetual enlightenment that is always available for human potential. The energy of the world and the universe runs through that greatness. Everything is connected.

In the second stanza, the speaker entwines notions of human life and the natural world. This suggests an inherent connection. There is something ecological or symbiotic about this. Note that in this stanza, the speaker warns:

Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother

With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit.

The speaker is suggesting that "traffic" (technological noise and distraction) can disrupt the human/nature connection. Spender uses the "flowering of the spirit" metaphor to emphasize this connection between nature ("flower") and the human "spirit."

In the final stanza, the speaker personifies aspects of nature, claiming that they praise (fete) the great ones in history. In the final two lines, the speaker concludes by describing how the influence of great people is left in the "vivid air." Their influence can be seen and remembered in human culture. Spender ends with another notion of nature ("air"). It's as if to say their influence is not only written in books, but also in the natural air itself.

Humans are of the earth. Their energy comes from the Sun. Therefore, their greatness is literally and poetically linked to nature. Connection is an important theme here. The greatest ones remember the soul's past. Spender is showing how they are connected to others across time and how they are connected to nature itself. It is a very optimistic and hopeful poem because it is all about human potential as well as historical, ecological, and spiritual connection.

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

nouns - what do you call the person who passes the trophies to the prize giver/presenter?

The person who gives out the trophies to the winners are called award presenters. So what do u call the person who passes the trophies to the presenter? Thanks!

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.

Notes

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