The New Zealand poet Allen Curnow published “You Will Know When You Get There” in 1982, including it in his collection of the same name. In the poem, a person walks down a steep slope into the ocean as daylight fades. Using this descent as a metaphor for what it's like to approach death, the poem examines the inevitability of death and the fact that everyone, in the end, dies alone. At the same time, the poem hints that there may be a “right time” to die and that, in doing so, one becomes part of a larger, mysterious universe.

• Read the full text of “You Will Know When You Get There”

• “You Will Know When You Get There” Summary

• “You Will Know When You Get There” Themes

  • 

    Embracing Death

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-22

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “You Will Know When You Get There”

  • Lines 1-3

    Nobody comes up ...
    ... last steep kilometre,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-6

    wet-metalled where ...
    ... thickening and thinning.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-10

    Too ...
    ... it’.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-13

    The light is ...
    ... gets there first.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-15

    Boys, two of ...
    ... back and away

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-18

    behind this man ...
    ... point seven meters,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-22

    one hour’s light ...
    ... the surge-black fissure.

    

    

    

    

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• “You Will Know When You Get There” Symbols

  • 

    Light and Dark

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-6
    • Lines 6-11
    • Lines 12-13
    • Lines 13-14
    • Lines 19-20
    • Line 22

• “You Will Know When You Get There” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 9-10: “‘it gathers the gold against / it’.”

  • Extended Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-22

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “a shower passed shredding the light”
    • Line 5: “pouring out of its tank in the sky”
    • Lines 7-8: “the dammed / reservoir up there keeps emptying”
    • Line 20: “A door”
    • Line 21: “a heavy wave, a door,”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Line 3
    • Line 4
    • Lines 5-6
    • Lines 7-8
    • Lines 8-10
    • Lines 10-12
    • Lines 13-14
    • Line 15
    • Lines 16-17
    • Line 18
    • Lines 19-20
    • Line 21
    • Line 22

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Nobody”
    • Line 2: “nobody”
    • Line 4: “the light”
    • Line 8: “the light”
    • Line 10: “The light”
    • Line 12: “down you go”
    • Line 14: “hesitancy”
    • Line 15: “hesitancy”
    • Line 16: “going down”
    • Line 20: “door”
    • Line 21: “door”
    • Line 22: “Down you go”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “this / in”
    • Lines 2-3: “down / the”
    • Lines 3-4: “where / a”
    • Lines 4-5: “keeps / pouring”
    • Lines 6-7: “Too / credibly”
    • Lines 7-8: “dammed / reservoir”
    • Lines 8-9: “lasts / over”
    • Lines 9-10: “against / it’.”
    • Lines 10-11: “randomly / glinting”
    • Lines 11-12: “short / shower”
    • Lines 12-13: “does / the”
    • Lines 14-15: “speak / is”
    • Lines 15-16: “away / behind”
    • Lines 16-17: “bag / to”
    • Lines 19-20: “excrescent / moon”
    • Lines 20-21: “door / slams”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “season, and”
    • Line 3: “kilometre, wet”
    • Line 5: “sky, through”
    • Line 6: “trees, vapours,” “thinning. Too”
    • Line 7: “celestial, the”
    • Line 10: “it’. The”
    • Line 11: “underfoot, wetted”
    • Line 12: “shower, and”
    • Line 13: “first. Boys,” “, two”
    • Line 14: “faces, a”
    • Line 17: “mussels, having”
    • Line 19: “left, and”
    • Line 20: “it. A”
    • Line 21: “slams, a,” “wave, a,” “door, the”
    • Line 22: “alone, so,” “late, into”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “shower,” “shredding”
    • Line 6: “thickening,” “thinning”
    • Line 8: “light lasts”
    • Line 9: “gathers,” “gold”
    • Line 10: “rock randomly”
    • Lines 11-12: “short / shower”
    • Line 12: “down,” “does”
    • Line 19: “light,” “left”
    • Line 20: “last”
    • Line 21: “slams,” “door,” “sea”
    • Line 22: “Down,” “surge”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “sea,” “this”
    • Line 2: “season,” “else”
    • Line 3: “last,” “steep,” “kilometre,” “metalled”
    • Line 4: “shower,” “shredding,” “keeps”
    • Line 5: “pouring,” “tank,” “sky”
    • Line 6: “thickening,” “thinning”
    • Line 8: “reservoir,” “there,” “keeps,” “emptying,” “while,” “light,” “lasts”
    • Line 9: “gathers,” “gold,” “against”
    • Line 10: “crushed,” “rock,” “randomly”
    • Line 11: “glinting,” “short”
    • Line 12: “shower”
    • Line 14: “turn,” “campfirelit,” “faces,” “hesitancy,” “speak”
    • Line 15: “earth,” “rolling”
    • Line 16: “behind,” “man,” “down”
    • Line 17: “mussels,” “arrangement”
    • Line 18: “ocean,” “shallowed”
    • Line 19: “hour’s,” “light,” “left,” “there’s,” “excrescent”
    • Line 20: “sponging,” “last”
    • Line 21: “slams,” “heavy,” “wave,” “door,” “sea,” “floor,” “shudders”
    • Line 22: “Down,” “alone,” “so,” “late,” “surge,” “black,” “fissure”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Nobody,” “sea”
    • Line 2: “season”
    • Line 3: “steep,” “wet,” “metalled”
    • Line 4: “keeps”
    • Line 6: “thickening,” “thinning”
    • Line 8: “keeps,” “emptying”
    • Line 10: “is,” “bits”
    • Line 12: “go,” “so”
    • Line 18: “three,” “meters”
    • Line 19: “left,” “excrescent”
    • Line 21: “door,” “floor”
    • Line 22: “go,” “alone,” “so”

  • Sibilance

    

    

    

    

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    Where sibilance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “sea”
    • Line 2: “season,” “else”
    • Line 3: “last,” “steep”
    • Line 4: “shower,” “passed,” “shredding,” “keeps”
    • Line 5: “its,” “sky,” “summits”
    • Line 8: “keeps,” “lasts”
    • Line 9: “sea,” “against”
    • Line 11: “short”
    • Line 12: “shower,” “so”
    • Line 13: “sun,” “gets,” “first”
    • Line 14: “faces,” “hesitancy,” “speak”
    • Line 16: “this,” “sea”
    • Line 17: “mussels”
    • Line 18: “ocean,” “shallowed,” “seven”
    • Line 19: “excrescent”
    • Line 20: “sponging,” “last”
    • Line 21: “slams,” “sea,” “shudders”
    • Line 22: “so,” “surge”

• “You Will Know When You Get There” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Kilometre
  • Wet-metalled
  • Shredding
  • Summits
  • Vapours
  • Credibly
  • Half Celestial
  • Dammed
  • Glinting
  • Wetted
  • Campfirelit
  • Hesitancy
  • Arrangement
  • Three Point Seven Meters
  • Excrescent
  • Sponging
  • Shudders
  • Surge-Black
  • Fissure
  • (Location in poem: Line 3: “kilometre”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “You Will Know When You Get There”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “You Will Know When You Get There” Speaker

• “You Will Know When You Get There” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “You Will Know When You Get There”

• More “You Will Know When You Get There” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Acclaim for "You Will Know When You Get There" — Read more about the collection this poem appeared in and the awards the book won.

    • Biography of Allen Curnow — Read more about Allen Curnow’s life and his work as a major New Zealand poet in this biographical article from the New Zealand Government History website.

    • Picture of KareKare Beach — View a photograph of KareKare Beach in New Zealand, where many readers believe the poem is set. 

    • The Borrowed Line — Read more about the line from Pound’s Cantos that the speaker alludes to in "You Will Know When You Get There."

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