Semansky is an instructor of literature whose writing appears regularly in literary journals. In this essay, Semansky explores ideas of continuity and life in Strand's poem.

As an allegory of sorts for the story of human existence, Strand's poem "The Continuous Life" asks readers to rethink their notions of both continuity and life. These are familiar subjects for Strand, which he has addressed in numerous poems including the title poem from his 1973 collection, The Story of Our Lives.

An allegory is an extended metaphor in which a series of actions or images stands in for other actions and things. Using a series of symbolic images and abstract statements, Strand's poem seeks to describe the nuances of how a human being experiences being alive. In this sense, his poem universalizes experience but because the descriptions are so general, many readers can see the shape of their own lives...