In Leontia Flynn's "The Furthest Distances I've Travelled," a speaker recalls the thrill of backpacking across the world and wonders how they ended up settling down into a more ordinary life. But even though their globetrotting days are behind them, the speaker's life is still filled with adventure: building close relationships, the poem suggests, is just as exciting and challenging as traveling the world. "The Furthest Distances I've Travelled" was published in Flynn's first poetry collection, These Days (2004).

• Read the full text of “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled”

• “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled” Summary

• “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled” Themes

  • 

    The Value and Difficulty of Relationships

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-32
  • 

    Seeking Adventure vs. Settling Down

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-32

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled”

  • Lines 1-6

    Like many folk, ...
    ... to live.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-8

    On the beaten ...
    ... of scattered airports;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    it came clear ...
    ... kind of destiny.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-18

    So whether it ...
    ... or a giro;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-22

    and why, if ...
    ... really beyond me.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 23-28

    However, ...
    ... are my souvenirs

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 29-32

    and, from these ...
    ... in their lives.

    

    

    

    

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• “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “my spine / curved under it like a meridian—”
    • Line 9: “it came clear as over a tannoy”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “spine / curved”
    • Lines 5-6: “how / to”
    • Lines 6-7: “Krakow / and”
    • Lines 7-8: “white / cells”
    • Lines 10-11: “anony / mity”
    • Lines 14-15: “delirium / and”
    • Lines 17-18: “bills / or”
    • Lines 18-19: “smalls / hastily”
    • Lines 19-20: “likely / to”
    • Lines 20-21: “Milwaukee / than”
    • Lines 21-22: “laundry / is”
    • Lines 24-25: “discover / alien”
    • Lines 25-26: “throwaway / comment”
    • Lines 26-27: “stowaway / pressed”
    • Lines 29-30: “unravelled / sports”
    • Lines 30-31: “travelled / have”
    • Lines 31-32: “survives / of”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “folk, when”
    • Line 5: “thought: Yes. This”
    • Line 6: “track, the,” “pass, between”
    • Line 7: “Zagreb, or”
    • Line 10: “restlessness, in”
    • Line 15: “baldness—that,” “me, not”
    • Line 18: “giro; and,” “why, if”
    • Line 19: “holdall, I”
    • Line 24: “when, during,” “evictions, I”
    • Line 25: “pants, cinema stubs, the”
    • Line 26: “comment—on,” “post–it—or”
    • Line 29: “and, from,” “valentines, this”
    • Line 30: “sock, that”
    • Line 31: “people. And”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “folk,” “first”
    • Line 2: “feeling”
    • Line 6: “beaten,” “between”
    • Line 7: “Siberian”
    • Line 8: “cells,” “scattered”
    • Line 9: “came clear”
    • Line 13: “scare stories”
    • Line 15: “Western”
    • Line 16: “wiring,” “words”
    • Line 19: “hastily,” “holdall,” “less likely”
    • Line 20: “Madison,” “Milwaukee”
    • Line 21: “laundry”
    • Line 24: “during,” “discover”
    • Line 30: “sports sock”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 13-15: “the scare stories about  / Larium / —the threats of delirium / and baldness”
    • Lines 17-18: “to this post office with a handful of bills / or a giro”

• “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled” 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.

  • Saddled
  • Rucksack
  • Meridian
  • The beaten track
  • The sherpa pass
  • Zagreb
  • Krakow
  • Siberian
  • Tannoy
  • Larium
  • Delirium
  • Western Union
  • Wiring
  • Lithuanian
  • Giro
  • Holdall
  • Smalls
  • Greyhound
  • Milwaukee
  • Madison
  • Evictions
  • Pants
  • Stowaway
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “when first I saddled a rucksack”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled” Speaker

• “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled”

• More “The Furthest Distances I've Travelled” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Aloud — Listen to Flynn reading her poem. 

    • Flynn's Critical Reception — Read a review of Flynn's first book.

    • An Interview with Flynn — Watch a 2018 video of Flynn talking about her work. 

    • A Brief Biography — Read an introduction to Flynn's work from the Poetry Foundation.

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