"Touch and Go," by English poet Stevie Smith, is an allegory about humankind's struggle to progress. In the poem's symbolic story, a lonesome man—a representative for humanity as a whole—is slowly and painfully crawling "out of the mountains," though he finds himself impeded by his "tail," a surprising appendage that gets caught on the road. The man's slow, uncertain efforts to free himself and move on become an image of humanity's difficulty in leaving behind its base animal impulses and moving toward something like civilization. Smith collected this poem in her 1950 book Harold's Leap.

• Read the full text of “Touch and Go”

• “Touch and Go” Summary

• “Touch and Go” Themes

  • 

    Humanity's Struggle to Progress

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-28
  • 

    Religious Feeling and Doubt

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 21-25

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Touch and Go”

  • Lines 1-4

    Man is coming ...
    ... not an ass?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    Do not be ...
    ... half out yet.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    Look at his ...
    ... help him now?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    No, there is ...
    ... cough and spit.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    The enemies of ...
    ... Where he languishes?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    Ah, the delicate ...
    ... And the trouble.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-28

    Look he moves, ...
    ... touch and go.

    

    

    

    

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• “Touch and Go” Symbols

  • 

    The Man with the Tail

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4: “Man is coming out of the mountains / But his tail is caught in the pass. / Why does he not free himself / Is he not an ass?”
    • Lines 9-11: “Look at his sorrowful eyes / His torn cheeks, his brow / He lies with his head in the dust”
    • Lines 21-22: “Ah, the delicate creature / He lies with his head in the rubble”
    • Lines 25-28: “Look he moves, that is more than a prayer, / But he is so slow / Will he come out of the mountains? / It is touch and go.”
  • 

    The Journey Out of the Mountains

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “Man is coming out of the mountains / But his tail is caught in the pass.”
    • Lines 7-8: “He is not out of the mountains / He is not half out yet.”
    • Line 27: “Will he come out of the mountains?”

• “Touch and Go” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Man is coming out of the mountains”
    • Line 6: “He is”
    • Line 7: “He is,” “out of the mountains”
    • Line 8: “He is”
    • Line 12: “no one to help him”
    • Line 13: “no one to help him”
    • Line 19: “no one to help,” “creature”
    • Line 21: “creature”
    • Line 27: “Will he come out of the mountains?”

  • Idiom

    

    

    

    

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    Where idiom appears in the poem:

    • Line 28: “It is touch and go.”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 17-18: “The enemies of man are like trees / They stand with the sun in their branches”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Man,” “mountains”
    • Line 12: “no,” “help him,” “now”
    • Line 13: “No,” “no,” “help him”
    • Line 18: “stand,” “sun”
    • Line 23: “Pray,” “pass”
    • Line 25: “moves,” “more”
    • Line 26: “so slow”

• “Touch and Go” 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.

  • Pass
  • Ass
  • Bowed with passion and fret
  • Languishes
  • Rubble
  • It is touch and go
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “his tail is caught in the pass”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Touch and Go”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Touch and Go” Speaker

• “Touch and Go” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Touch and Go”

• More “Touch and Go” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Smith's life and work.

    • An Interview with Smith — Watch a wonderfully peculiar BBC interview in which Smith reads and discusses her poetry.

    • Smith's Drawings — Take a look at a selection of Smith's drawings. She illustrated much of her verse.

    • Smith's Strangeness — Read an essay about Smith that discusses her unsettling, unclassifiable style.

    • Smith's Legacy — Read an appreciation of Smith written on the 50th anniversary of her death.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Stevie Smith

    • Away, Melancholy

    • Not Waving but Drowning

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