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    A Study Guide for Robert Francis's "The Base Stealer"
    A Study Guide for Robert Francis's "The Base Stealer"
    A Study Guide for Robert Francis's "The Base Stealer"
    Ebook28 pages18 minutes

    A Study Guide for Robert Francis's "The Base Stealer"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Robert Francis's "The Base Stealer," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateAug 19, 2016
    ISBN9781535835251
    A Study Guide for Robert Francis's "The Base Stealer"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Robert Francis's "The Base Stealer" - Gale

      1

      The Base Stealer

      Robert Francis

      1948

      Introduction

      Robert Francis’ The Base Stealer, a poem about baseball which was published in Francis’ 1976 volume Robert Francis: Collected Poems, captures a moment poised between two states—an instant of developing action, of leaving one condition and entering another. By describing a base runner, Francis might be describing any experience in which a person is pulled both ways; he describes the sense of past and future that enter into such a moment and the heightened sense of life that is felt in the flux of becoming. The poem’s situation is made clear by the title. In baseball, a runner on base is entitled to advance to the next base at his own discretion. This may happen even if the batter does not hit the ball—when the runner tries to steal the base. The art of base stealing depends on the runner’s ability to perfectly time the pitcher’s delivery to the plate. If the runner breaks too soon, the pitcher may catch him, throwing to a fielder instead of to the plate. If the runner breaks too late, the catcher may throw him out at the next base. Thus, the base-stealer’s success is determined less by his speed than by his perception, confidence, and cunning. To shorten his route to the next base, the runner takes a lead off of the base he currently occupies—that is, he steps away from the base, cheating up the baseline. This is a dangerous place to be: if the pitcher is quick enough, he

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