“Atavism”John Myers O'Hara

Know the vocabulary, understand the poem, understand why Jack London includes it as an epigraph in The Call of the Wild.

Vocabulary for “Atavism”

Helots:

Serfs or servants

Vocabulary for “Atavism”

Morbid:

Psychologically unhealthy or

unwholesome

Vocabulary for “Atavism”

Primal:

Being first in time; original; primeval

Verdure:

The lush greenness of flourishing

vegetation

Atone:

To make amends, as for a

sin or a fault; conciliate or

appease

Nomadic:Referring to a group of people who have no

fixed home and move according to the seasons from place to place in search of

goods, water, and grazing land

Callous:

Having calluses; toughened/

emotionally hardened; unfeeling

Torpor:

A state of mental or physical inactivity or insensibility/

Lethargy or apathy/ the dormant state of hibernating animal

Sedge:

Any number of grass-like plants of the

family cyperaceae, having solid stems and leaves in three

vertical rows

Brumal:Referring to wintertime

Vocabulary for “Atavism”

Terrene:

Of or relating to the earth; earthly

Vocabulary for “Atavism”

Atavism:

The reappearance of a characteristic after

several generations of absence, usually

caused by the chance recombination of

genes

Vocabulary for “Atavism”Feral:

Referring to wild animals

“Atavism” by: John Myers O'Hara

1 Old longings nomadic leap,

Chafing at custom’s chain;

Again from is brumal sleep4 Wakens the ferine

strain.

5 Helots of houses no more,Let us be out, be free;

Fragrance through window and door8 Wafts from the woods, the

sea.After the torpor of will, Morbid with inner strife,Welcome the animal thrill,12 Lending a zest to life.

Banish the volumes revered,14 Sever from centuries dead;Ceilings the lamp flicker cheered Barter for stars instead.

Temple thy dreams with the trees,18 Nature thy god alone;Worship the sun and the breeze, Altars where none atone.Voices of solitude call,22 Whisper of sedge and stream;Loosen the fetters that gall, Back to the primal scheme.

Feel the great throbbing terrene

26 Pulse in thy body beat,

Conscious again of the green

Verdure beneath the feet.

Callous to pain as the rose,

30 Breathe with instinct’s delight;

Live the existence that goes

Soulless into the night.