High Flight

John Gillespie McGee Jr. was a 19 year old Spitfire pilot for the British RAF when he wrote High Flight. Five days after publishing the poem, he was killed over the English Channel defending Britain against Nazi bombers. At a glance, the poem is Mcgee describing the experience of flying to someone who has never flown. But a pilot does not simply describe flying, as a pilot does not simply "experience" flying. The poem is more. He is a man, lit afire by passion describing the pursuit of purpose. He is a man so enamoured by his pursuit that he finds his very purpose in that passion. He leaves behind the "surly bonds of earth", where others who dare not the skies remain--within the safety of fences. He is a horse sharing the thrill of running beyond outside the fences. When he tells of the heights to which he has soard, "where never lark or even eagle flew," he speaks not of birds, but of men, who have not ascended such heights of passion and purpose. And then, the poem turns somber, as in reaching those untresspassed heights, McGee finds brief privilege to humbly brush the transcendent. In his fiery pursuit of passionate purpose, he touches the face of God.
He was killed five days later. He was 19. He lived fierce.