And The Connection to Jack London’s Themes
Atavism By John Myers O’Hara
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“Atavism” by John Myers O’Hara
Old longings nomadic leap,
Chafing at custom's chain;
Again from its brumal sleep
Wakens the ferine strain.
Helots of houses no more,
Let us be out, be free;
Fragance through window and door
Wafts from the woods, the sea.
After the torpor of will,
Morbid with inner strife,
Welcome the animal thrill,
Lending a zest to life.
Banish the volumes revered,
Sever from centuries dead;
Ceilings the lamp flicker cheered
Barter for stars instead.
Atavism: CONTINUED
Temple thy dreams with the trees,
Nature thy god alone;
Worship the sun and the breeze,
Altars where none atone.
Voices of solitude call,
Whisper of sedge and stream;
Loosen the fetters that gall,
Back to the primal scheme.
Feel the great throbbing terrene
Pulse in thy body beat,
Conscious again of the green
Verdure beneath the feet.
Callous to pain as the rose,
Breathe with instinct's delight
Live the existence that goes
Soulless in the night.
Stanza 1
Old longings nomadic leap,
Chafing at custom's chain;
Again from its brumal sleep
Wakens the ferine strain.
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Explanation: In this stanza, a family is waking from a time of good stuff. They were in the
dark ages and are awaking to a period of badness. An example in White Fang is, “One Eye was
desperate. He ranged far and wide, and slept but little in the lair that had now become
cheerless and miserable. The she-wolf, too, left her litter and went out in search of meat. In the
first days after the birth of the cubs, One Eye had journeyed several times back to the Indian
camp and robbed the rabbit snares; but, with the melting of the snow and the opening of the
streams, the Indian camp had moved away, and that source of supply was closed to him.
 When the grey cub came back to life and again took interest in the far white wall, he found that
the population of his world had been reduced. Only one sister remained to him. The rest were
gone. As he grew stronger, he found himself compelled to play alone, for the sister no longer
lifted her head nor moved about. His little body rounded out with the meat he now ate; but the
food had come too late for her. She slept continuously, a tiny skeleton flung round with skin in
which the flame flickered lower and lower and at last went out.” This shows White Fang falling
asleep to a good time and waking up to a bad time.
Stanza 2
 Helots of houses no more,
Let us be out, be free;
Fragrance through window and door
Wafts from the woods, the sea.
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Explanation: In this stanza, there are no more houses and they are going out to be free. The woods are leading them
to the wild and freedom. In The Call of the Wild it says “All day Buck brooded by the pool or roamed restlessly about
the camp. Death, as a cessation of movement, as a passing out and away from the lives of the living, he knew, and he
knew John Thornton was dead. It left a great void in him, somewhat akin to hunger, but a void which ached and ached,
and which food could not fill. At times, when he paused to contemplate the carcasses of the Yeehats, he forgot the pain
of it; and at such times he was aware of a great pride in himself--a pride greater than any he had yet experienced. He
had killed man, the noblest game of all, and he had killed in the face of the law of club and fang. He sniffed the bodies
curiously. They had died so easily. It was harder to kill a husky dog than them. They were no match at all, were it not for
their arrows and spears and clubs. Thenceforward he would be unafraid of them except when they bore in their hands
their arrows, spears and clubs.
Night came on, and a full moon rose high over the trees into the sky, lighting the land till it lay bathed in ghostly day.
And with the coming of the night, brooding and mourning by the pool, Buck came alive to a stirring of the new life in
the forest other than that which the Yeehats had made. He stood up, listening and scenting. From far away drifted a
faint, sharp yelp, followed by a chorus of similar sharp yelps. As the moments passed the yelps grew closer and louder.
Again Buck knew them as things heard in that other world which persisted in his memory. He walked to the center of
the open space and listened. It was the call, the many-noted call, sounding more luringly and compelling than ever
before. And as never before, he was ready to obey. John Thornton was dead. The last tie was broken. Man and the
claims of man no longer bound him.” In these paragraphs he is being lead into the wild by a call from his wolf
ancestors.
Stanza 3
After the torpor of will,
Morbid with inner strife,
Welcome the animal thrill,
Lending a zest to life.
Explanation: After the hardships and paralyzation of the body your inner strife is gone. Then
nature leads you to a thrill that will add excitement. An example from The Law Of Life is “A
cold muzzle thrust against his cheek, and at its touch his soul leaped back to the present. His
hand shot into the fire and dragged out a burning faggot. Overcome for the nonce by his
hereditary fear of man, the brute retreated, raising a prolonged call to his brothers; and
greedily they answered, till a ring of crouching, jaw-slobbered gray was stretched round about.
The old man listened to the drawing in of this circle. He waved his brand wildly, and sniffs
turned to snarls; but the panting brutes refused to scatter. Now one wormed his chest forward,
dragging his haunches after, now a second, now a third; but never a one drew back. Why
should he cling to life? he asked, and dropped the blazing stick into the snow. It sizzled and
went out. The circle grunted uneasily, but held its own. Again he saw the last stand of the old
bull moose, and Koskoosh dropped his head wearily upon his knees. What did it matter after
all? Was it not the law of life?” He’s inner strife is gone and is adding excitement by dying.
Stanza 4
Banish the volumes revered,
Sever from centuries dead;
Ceilings the lamp flicker cheered
Barter for stars instead.
Explanation: Your getting rid of all of the sounds of your sad moments. You are getting
rid of all of the deaths and are breaking free to a new you. An example is in White Fang,
“But there WAS life, abroad in the land and defiant. Down the frozen waterway toiled a
string of wolfish dogs. Their bristly fur was rimed with frost. Their breath froze in the air
as it left their mouths, spouting forth in spumes of vapor that settled upon the hair of
their bodies and formed into crystals of frost. Leather harness was on the dogs, and
leather traces attached them to a sled which dragged along behind. The sled was without
runners. It was made of stout birch-bark, and its full surface rested on the snow. The
front end of the sled was turned up, like a scroll, in order to force down and under the
bore of soft snow that surged like a wave before it. On the sled, securely lashed, was a
long and narrow oblong box. There were other things on the sled - blankets, an axe, and a
coffee-pot and frying-pan; but prominent, occupying most of the space, was the long and
narrow oblong box.” They are trying to get rid of the death in their life.
Stanza 5
“Temple thy dreams with the trees,
Nature thy god alone;
Worship the sun and the breeze,
Altars where none atone.”
Explanation: This stanza means that you are praising nature. You are escaping
to nature and praising nature. This relates to Jack London’s book White Fang
because in Chapter twelve, page 195 it says “Quite deliberately he determined to
stay behind. He waited his opportunity to slink out of camp to the woods.
Here, in the running stream where ice was beginning to form, he hid his trail.
Then he crawled into the heart of a dense thicket and waited. The time passed
by, and he slept intermittently for hours. Then he was aroused by Grey Beaver's
voice calling him by name. There were other voices. White Fang could hear
Grey Beaver's squaw taking part in the search, and Mit-sah, who was Grey
Beaver's son.” White Fang was tired and he was escaping the grasps of human
hands to be with Nature.
Stanza 6
Voices of solitude call,
Whisper of sedge and stream;
Loosen the fetters that gall,
Back to the primal scheme.
Explanation: You are being released to freedom, or otherwise known as nature.
You are being freed from civilization to the wonders of nature. You are going
back to the original plan/plot of the world. In Call of the Wild, “ It was the call,
the many-noted call, sounding more luringly and compelling than ever before.
And as never before, he was ready to obey. John Thornton was dead. The last tie
was broken. Man and the claims of man no longer bound him.” In this passage,
Buck is pondering the fact that his favorite human, John Thornton has just
been killed. Now, he has been released form his bonds with mankind and is
therefore now wild and free just like the character in the poem.
Stanza 7
 Feel the great throbbing terrene
Pulse in thy body beat,
Conscious again of the green
Verdure beneath the feet
Explanation: This stanza is showing that the character is being released into nature and the wild.
They can feel the terrain and pulse of the Earth and is now becoming conscious of freedom. “Unlike
any other wall with which he had had experience, this wall seemed to recede from him as he
approached. No hard surface collided with the tender little nose he thrust out tentatively before him.
The substance of the wall seemed as permeable and yielding as light. And as condition, in his eyes,
had the seeming of form, so he entered into what had been wall to him and bathed in the substance
that composed it. It was bewildering. He was sprawling through solidity. And ever the light grew
brighter. Fear urged him to go back, but growth drove him on. Suddenly he found himself at the
mouth of the cave. The wall, inside which he had thought himself, as suddenly leaped back before
him to an immeasurable distance. The light had become painfully bright. He was dazzled by it.
Likewise he was made dizzy by this abrupt and tremendous extension of space. Automatically, his
eyes were adjusting themselves to the brightness, focusing themselves to meet the increased distance
of objects. At first, the wall had leaped beyond his vision. He now saw it again; but it had taken upon
itself a remarkable remoteness. Also, its appearance had changed. It was now a variegated wall,
composed of the trees that fringed the stream, the opposing mountain that towered above the trees,
and the sky that out-towered the mountain.” In this quote from White Fang, White fang is exploring
the new and interesting world outside of his cave. This is similar to Stanza 7 because the poem
character is just exploring nature for the first time.
Stanza 8
 Callous to pain as the rose,
Breathe with instinct's delight
Live the existence that goes
Soulless in the night.
 Explanation: This stanza is explaining the good feelings that the character is experiencing.
They are taking in the beauty of nature that is to be found only now, so it is basically saying
enjoy life while it lasts. “Buck lived at a big house in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley. Judge
Miller's place, it was called. It stood back from the road, half-hidden among the trees, through
which glimpses could be caught of the wide cool veranda that ran around its four sides. The
house was approached by graveled driveways which wound about through wide-spreading
lawns and under the interlacing boughs of tall poplars. At the rear things were on even a more
spacious scale than at the front. There were great stables, where a dozen grooms and boys held
forth, rows of vine-clad servants' cottages, an endless and orderly array of outhouses, long
grape arbors, green pastures, orchards, and berry patches. Then there was the pumping plant
for the artesian well, and the big cement tank where Judge Miler's boys took their morning
plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon. And over this great demesne Buck ruled. Here he
was born, and here he had lived the four years of his life.” This is not involving the exploration
of nature, but it does involve someone taking in a place’s wonders while he can see them. This
quote from Call of the Wild is about Buck’s last day at Santa Clara Valley. That night , he was
taken to the North, so like in the poem, the character is experiencing happiness.
Figurative Language, Sound
Devices, and Imagery
 There is no rhyme in Jack London's literature, but the poem has rhyme between every two lines
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in a stanza.
There is alliteration in both the poem and the books by Jack London. Some examples from the
poem is “Chafing at custom's chain”, “Helots of houses”, and “Wafts from the woods,”. An
example from the book is “pent passion”.
An example of personification in both of Jack London’s books is the complicated thought
process of the dogs. An example from the poem is the “Whisper of sedge and stream.” Streams
cannot whisper.
An example of a simile from the book Buck's first day on the Dyea beach was like a nightmare.”
He was experiencing a bad time and place, so it could be compared to a bad dream. An example
from the poem is, “Callous to pain as the rose.” They are comparing how the character ignores
pain to how the rose ignores pain.
An example of imagery from The Call Of The Wild is, “From the forest came the call --(or one
note of it, for the call was many-noted), distinct and definite as never before--a long-drawn
howl, like, yet unlike, any noise made by husky dog. And he knew it, in the old familiar way, as
a sound heard before. He sprang through the sleeping camp and in swift silence dashed
through the woods. As he drew closer to the cry he went more slowly, with caution in every
movement, till he came to an open place among the trees, and looking out saw, erect on
haunches, with nose pointed to the sky, a long, lean, timber wolf.” I t describes the call/sound
and describes the lean timber wolf doing it. An example from the poem is, “Feel the great
throbbing terrene Pulse in thy body beat, Conscious again of the green Verdure beneath the
feet.” You are feeling the ground beneath you.
Mood and Theme
 The mood in Jack London’s books could be gloomy because
there is cruelty everywhere. The dogs are getting beaten up
which adds to the mood. The mood in the poem is freedom
because the character is being freed from nature and
released from the grasp of civilization.
 The theme of Jack London’s books is cruelty. In every book
and short story we have read, we have seen some example
of cruelty. The theme in the poem could be nature. The
character is being released to nature. The person is
escaping to nature, feeling the terrain of nature, and
praising nature.
THE END