A Blessing by James Arlington Wright

James Arlington Wright is widely recognized as one of America's finest contemporary poets. He was born in December 13, 1927 in Martins Ferry, Ohio. He was the second of three sons; Ted, James and Jack. His Father, Dudley, was a die-cutter at Hazel-Atlas Glass in Wheeling a neighboring town in Virginia where his mother, Jessie, worked at the White Swan Laundry. Both had to quit school in early teens to work.

In 1946 graduated from high school as a Valedictorian and joined the U.S. Army. He trained in engineering school at Fort Lewis, Washington. He served 18 months in occupational forces in Japan.

When he returned from the army he got enrolled at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He received M.A. degree and began to work on his Ph.D. at the same time he started teaching at University of Minnesota and later at MacAlester College. He received Ph.D. from University of Washington for study on Charles Dickens and he did public readings. He taught at Hunter College in New York City from 1966 to 1980. He also worked as translator. He completed some of his poems as he was teaching in the college he states that he didn’t feel any conflict between the duties of teaching and the labors of writing books which are non-academic.

Wright grew up during the Great Depression, which was mentioned in many of his poems. Many of his real life experiences have been influenced his writing including the poem his wrote after his father died

In 1979 he seeked out medical attention for his sore throat and discovers tongue cancer which caused his death. He died on March 25, 1980, at the age of 52.

Since 1980, The James Wright Poetry Festival takes place annually in Martins Ferry during April as a part of honoring the poet’s contributions. In past year...

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...ountry side of Minnesota they saw two Indian horses at a field. They stopped the car and encountered the horses. The field was fenced which he refers as the difference or gap between nature and humans who was also a part of nature. The writer states that the horses welcomed him and his friend to their world, he uses personification here. Through this poem he reveals his feelings when he encountered those animals. He mentions the horses as kind, shy, loving, lonely in the poem the qualities usually possessed by humans. The horses seemed excited to have human company. At the end of the poem the author starts to feel more comfortable in the natural world, on the other side of the barbed wire. Wright publically stated that he does not believe in god so the title – a blessing may be referring to his experience on the other side of the fence which he may felt blessed.