18 pages • 36 minutes read
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.High Flight
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1942A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Sonnet to Rupert Brooke” by John Gillespie Magee Jr. (1938)
This is a sonnet Magee wrote to honor the poet Rupert Brooke, who attended the Rugby School in the early 1900s. Brooke, a World War I poet and soldier, died at 27 of septicemia. His poetry inspired Magee’s own interest in the sonnet form. In this poem, written when Magee was 16, he imagines Brooke’s burial, remarking on the “sublime” (Line 4) nature of its site in Greece “where the leaves were green” (Line 2). As in “High Flight,” Magee’s speaker assesses the quality of sunlight and its “fading deeps” (Line 5) and how “daylight, as a dust, slips through the trees / And drifting, gilds the fern around [Brooke’s] grave” (Lines 9-10). Magee also employs elements of praise here as he suggests Brooke urged “new sight to blinded eyes” (Line 13) regarding the difficulties of war.
“Prospect” by John Gillespie Magee Jr. (1941)
In Chapter 7 of Roger Cole’s High Flight: The Life and Poetry of Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee (2013), he reprints Magee’s early poem “Prospect.” This is a love poem written in 1941 for Elinor Lyon, the headmaster of Rugby School’s daughter. His earnest teenage longing is expressed in the lines “Is it all in vain / To breathe out sonnets to the midnight air / To long to touch your hands, your lips again?” (Lines 10-12). This poem provides insight into what Magee might have been feeling as a 19-year-old civilian and alludes to his writing of sonnets—the form in which “High Flight” is also written.
“Per Ardua” by John Gillespie Magee Jr. (1941)
The text of “Per Ardua” is embedded in this entry about Magee for This Day in Aviation. Its title comes from the Latin motto of the RCAF, Per Ardua Ad Astra, which translates to “through adversity to the stars.” The poem is a tribute to fallen men in The Battle of Britain, and was written in November of 1941, right after Magee’s “first combat mission” (Swopes, Bryan. “11 December 1941.” This Day in Aviation, 2022). Like “High Flight” it includes images of pilots, who “climbed the white mists of the morning” (Line 1). However, the certainty of the speaker of “High Flight” is missing here. The sacredness is replaced with doubt as the speaker wonders, “Do these [men] know only / Night’s darkness, and Valhalla’s silence now?” (Lines 13-16). While praising the men, the speaker leaves open a consideration regarding the cost of war. This is believed to be the last poem Magee wrote before his death.
Further Literary Resources
“John Gillespie Magee’s ‘High Flight’” by Peter Armenti (2013)
In this blog article for the Library of Congress, Armenti discusses the poem, the letter enclosed with it, and the history of publication via Magee’s father and Archibald MacLeish. He also describes discussions over variations in the poem’s punctuation and capitalization amongst publications and the original manuscript, including whether the line “ever eagle flew” (Line 10) was actually “even eagle flew” (Line 10). Armenti discusses Magee’s legacy and touches on President Reagan’s 1986 speech which quotes Magee as well.
“Magee—Boy Hero and the Poet Legend” by Dave O’Malley and Linda Granfield (2016)
Dave O’Malley introduces Linda Granfield’s photo-essay, which details Magee’s life and contains many photographs to aid in understanding Magee’s family life, schooling, and service with the RCAF, including pictures of his Spitfire, which he nicknamed Brunhildë. Many of the pictures were provided by the Magee family. Excerpts of an interview he did shortly before he left to complete training in London and Wales are included, along with a photo of the handwritten version of “High Flight” enclosed in the letter to his parents. Granfield also details information she discovered regarding the poem’s appearance in print in November 1941, shortly before Magee’s death. This article was written for The Vintage Wings of Canada, an organization that preserves the memories and artifacts of Canadian pilots in World War II.
“Spitfire” entry by John F. Guilmartin for Encyclopedia Britannica (2013)
Guilmartin describes the Spitfire, the fighter plane used predominantly during World War II, and explains why it was the most popular plane of the era. While “High Flight” and Magee are not mentioned in this article, learning about the plane’s capabilities for high-altitude ascent can help readers better understand the experience of Magee’s speaker. Magee himself flew Spitfires as a RCAF pilot, and was part of a testing exercise on August 18, 1941, the day he wrote “High Flight” after having flown to 33,000 feet. Understanding that the plane’s upward capacity is 34,000 feet shows that Magee flew the plane nearly as high as it could go.
Listen to Poem
In the movie, For the Moment, set in 1942, the character of Airman Lachlan Curry (played by Russell Crowe) recites Magee’s poem to impress his love interest, Lill (Christianne Hirt). She recognizes it as the famous poem from John Gillespie Magee Jr.
