A Great Need

An allegorical work uses characters, settings, and plot developments to stand in for existential issues or indirectly convey a hidden message. Typically, the author ensures readers receive the work’s message by giving a symbol a singular meaning rather than potentially multiple interpretations. For example, Orwell uses pigs to represent the corrupt Bolsheviks leaders in the USSR and other once-revolutionary figureheads in his novella Animal Farm.

Ladinsky turns “A Great Need” into an allegory through the line, “Not loving is a letting go” (Line 5), which implies that holding hands and climbing are acts of love (Lines 3-4). The line also sets the reader up to interpret any subsequent images for possible meaning. The terrain surrounding a person becomes a symbol for life circumstances and the difficulty of human existence in general. As a result, the poem expresses that companionship and cooperation are vital to survival during hard times. One cannot let go of others because “the terrain around here / Is / Far too / Dangerous” (Lines 7-10). The poem also signals that love motivates people to move upwards.