Claude McKay: Poems

Who according to the poet are the castaways of life?

The Castaways The vivid grass with visible delight Springing triumphant from the pregnant earth, The butterflies and flowers in brief flight Dancing and chirping from the season’s birth, 5 The dandelions and rare daffodils That touch the deep-stirred heart with hands of gold, The thrushes sending forth their joyous thrills,- Not these, not these did I at first behold! But seated on the benches daubed with green, 10 The castaways of life, a few asleep, Some withered women desolate and mean And over all, life’s shadows dark and deep. Moaning turned away, for misery I have the strength to bear but not to see.Adapted from Claude McKay,“The Castaways”, Selected Poems of Claude McKay,Harcourt Porace Jovanovich, 1953.

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From the text we can infer that the "castaways" are the homeless.

But seated on the benches daubed with green,
The castaways of life, a few asleep,
Some withered women desolate and mean,
And over all, life's shadows dark and deep.

The poet is saddened by their misery and turns away.