Summaries Great Circle Maggie Shipstead

Chapter 1 Epigraph: Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Chapter 1, titled “Epigraph,” is not a narrative chapter at all. It presents a short poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, taken from The Book of Hours. The poem’s speaker describes living life in widening circles that extend across the world. The speaker acknowledges that the final circle may remain unfinished, yet declares a commitment to it nonetheless. The speaker then describes circling around God and around a primordial tower, having done so for thousands of years. The poem ends with the speaker’s uncertainty about their own nature, wondering whether they are a falcon, a storm, or a great song.

The epigraph stands alone, with no additional commentary or framing. It serves as a thematic overture to the novel that follows, inviting readers to hold its images and questions in mind as they begin the story.

Key Events

Because the chapter contains no narrative action, the only “event” is the presentation of the epigraph itself. The poem is placed at the very beginning of the book, before any story begins. This placement is significant: it signals that the poem’s themes—circles, journeying, devotion, identity, and the divine—are meant to frame the reader’s experience of the novel. The epigraph also introduces the motif of flight through its closing images of a falcon, a storm, and a song, all of which evoke movement through air and sky.

Character Development

The chapter introduces no characters from the novel. The only voice is that of the poem’s speaker, a persona who is not identified and does not appear elsewhere in the book. This speaker is introspective and philosophical, reflecting on the shape of a life and the nature of the self. The speaker’s uncertainty about whether they are a falcon, a storm, or a great song suggests a deep sense of identity in flux—a theme that may resonate with the novel’s protagonist, though the epigraph does not explicitly connect to any character. The speaker’s devotion to an unfinished circle also implies a willingness to embrace incompleteness and to commit to a path without knowing its end.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Several themes and symbols are present in the epigraph, and they are worth examining closely because they likely echo throughout the novel.

  • Widening circles: The poem’s central image is of a life expanding outward in ever-larger circles. This suggests growth, exploration, and the gradual broadening of experience. It also evokes the idea of a journey that is not linear but cyclical, returning to a center while reaching farther outward.
  • The unfinished circle: The speaker admits they may not complete the last circle but still gives themselves to it. This motif of embracing an incomplete or open-ended endeavor speaks to ambition, risk, and the value of striving even without certainty of success.
  • The primordial tower: The speaker circles around God and around a “primordial tower.” The tower can be read as a symbol of human aspiration, reaching toward the heavens, or as a representation of an ancient, foundational structure. Circling it suggests a quest for meaning or a relationship with the divine that is ongoing and never fully resolved.
  • The falcon, the storm, and the great song: These three images all involve movement and sound. A falcon is a bird of prey, swift and precise; a storm is powerful and chaotic; a great song is expressive and artistic. The speaker’s uncertainty about which they are reflects a broader question about identity—whether one is defined by action, by natural force, or by creative expression. These images also connect to flight and the sky, which are central to the novel’s subject matter.
  • Circling God: The poem’s religious dimension is explicit. The speaker’s circling of God suggests a spiritual search that is not linear but repetitive, a devotion that persists across millennia. This motif of enduring faith or questioning may inform the novel’s treatment of purpose and transcendence.

Why This Chapter Matters

Although it is only a few lines, the epigraph is a crucial part of Great Circle. It establishes the novel’s thematic landscape before the first sentence of the story. The poem’s emphasis on widening circles directly echoes the title of the book: a “great circle” is a term in aviation and navigation referring to the shortest route between two points on a sphere, and it also evokes the idea of a grand, encompassing journey. The epigraph invites readers to think about the novel’s protagonist as someone who lives in widening circles, reaching across the world, and who may not complete her final circle but gives herself to it anyway.

The poem also introduces the motif of flight—through the falcon, the storm, and the song—which is central to a novel about an aviator. The uncertainty about identity (“am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song?”) foreshadows the protagonist’s own search for self-understanding. The epigraph thus functions as a lens through which to read the entire novel, offering a set of images and questions that will recur and evolve as the story unfolds. It is a compact but powerful opening that rewards careful attention.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the poem’s image of “widening circles” relate to the novel’s title, Great Circle?

The poem describes a life lived in expanding circles that reach across the world. The novel’s title refers to a great-circle route, the shortest path between two points on a globe, which is a fundamental concept in aviation. The epigraph’s circles suggest both a literal journey across the earth and a metaphorical journey of personal growth. The idea of an unfinished circle also aligns with the notion of a great-circle route that may be interrupted or never completed, which is a likely theme in the story of an aviator.

2. What might the speaker’s uncertainty about being “a falcon, a storm, or a great song” signify?

The three images represent different modes of being: a falcon is a precise, predatory bird; a storm is a powerful, uncontrollable natural force; a great song is an artistic creation. The speaker’s uncertainty suggests a fundamental question about identity—whether one is defined by action, by raw power, or by creative expression. In the context of the novel, this question may apply to the protagonist, who is an aviator and thus associated with flight, but who may also struggle to define herself beyond her achievements.

3. Why do you think the author chose to open the novel with an epigraph rather than a narrative scene?

An epigraph sets the tone and thematic framework for the entire work. By placing Rilke’s poem at the very beginning, the author signals that the novel will explore themes of journeying, devotion, identity, and the divine. The poem’s imagery of circles and flight prepares readers for a story about aviation and exploration, while its philosophical tone invites a reflective reading. The epigraph also creates a sense of timelessness, suggesting that the protagonist’s experiences are part of a larger, age-old human quest.

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