Analysis of Wallace Stevens' "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"
'Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird' by Wallace Stevens is a poem
about what it means to really know something. In this poem, Stevens shows this
connection by writing a first person poem about a poet's observation and
contemplation's when viewing a blackbird. He does this by making each stanza an
explanation of a new way he has perceived this blackbird. First, he writes about
his physical perception of the blackbird as an observer. Then, he writes about
his mental processes during this time. These are as the thoughts and
perceptions of the blackbird itself, as what it must be like to be that bird. By
the end, he has concluded that by seeing this blackbird, a connection has been
made and he now knows the blackbird has becomes a part of him.
In the first stanza, he focuses on the eye of the blackbird as an
outside observer. This symbolizes the thoughts and the consciousness of the
blackbird. It is also a transition from the observer's perception to the
blackbird's perception. In the second stanza, Stevens goes on to say that he
was of ?three minds, Like a tree, In which there are three blackbirds.? This was
the first time he makes the connection between seeing the blackbird and him
himself metaphorically being the blackbird. He makes this connection even more
clear in the fourth stanza when he says that ?A man and a woman Are one. A man
and a woman and a blackbird are one." In the sixth stanza he goes back to being
the poet observer as he watches the blackbird fly by his icy window. Again in
the next stanza he goes back to the point of view of the blackbird wondering why
the men of Haddam only imagine golden birds instead of realizing the value of
the common blackbird. At this time, he makes the connection that in seeing and
knowing the blackbird it becomes a part of himself. When he says in the eighth
stanza ?I know noble accents And lucid, inescapable rhythms; But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved In what I know.? he is acknowledging that he is
still a poet but when he sees, thinks, and writes about the blackbird, in a way
he is also the blackbird. After this, the black bird and the poet observer are
separated but in the twelfth stanza Stevens writes ?The river is moving. The
blackbird must be flying.? This is meant to show that though the observer's
Edgar Allan Poe tells the story of a bereaved man who is grieving for his lost love in the poem, “The Raven.” During a dark and gloomy night, the man hears a knock at his door. Hoping that it is Lenore, his dead lover, coming back to him, he goes to open the door. Unfortunately, he is only met with emptiness and disappointment. Shortly after, a raven flies into the room through the window and lands on the bust of Pallas. The man begins to converse with this dark and mysterious bird. In response to everything the man says, the raven repeats one dreadful word: “Nevermore.” The symbolism of the raven being connected to death, and the man’s interaction with the dark bird reveals to readers that he is going through the stages of dying. Subsequently, the repetition of the bird’s one worded reply makes it known that the man will never see Lenore again because there is no afterlife.
...t is arguable that the birds fight is also a metaphor, implying the fight exists not only between birds but also in the father’s mind. Finally, the last part confirms the transformation of the parents, from a life-weary attitude to a “moving on” one by contrasting the gloomy and harmonious letter. In addition, readers should consider this changed attitude as a preference of the poet. Within the poem, we would be able to the repetitions of word with same notion. Take the first part of the poem as example, words like death, illness
Although the era during which Blackbird came out most likely suggests it was written for the African American race to associate with, it very much correlates to Shelley’s being in Frankenstein. Symbolically speaking, the blackbird in the song represents the creation and his life, as he knows it. Victor simply created this being, but never took his responsibility beyond that point in regards to guiding this new life form toward happiness. Thus, the creature’s wings, that took him on his flight of life, were futile until he decided to learn and experience existence by himself. His sunken eyes, from the beginning of time, were empty forever longing for that guidance that he never received from Victor. The creature came into the world basically a newborn, pertaining to his lack of knowledge or any unfeigned emotion. And, it was the obligation of Victor to instill upon him normal morals and knowledge about the world to provide a structural and principled foundation. Needless to say, Victor failed to do so and the so the creature inevitably became the blackbird.
Dunbar finishes off the poem with powerful lines: “But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, But a plea that upward heaven he flings— I know why the caged bird sings!” The caged bird is depicted as battered, bruised, and beaten from his violent rebellion— praying as his last chance of freedom. The bird’s belief in its virtuous rebellion justifies the revolt, as we see the bird’s constant persistency, even as the mutiny is demoted to
The tile of the poem “Bird” is simple and leads the reader smoothly into the body of the poem, which is contained in a single stanza of twenty lines. Laux immediately begins to describe a red-breasted bird trying to break into her home. She writes, “She tests a low branch, violet blossoms/swaying beside her” and it is interesting to note that Laux refers to the bird as being female (Laux 212). This is the first clue that the bird is a symbol for someone, or a group of people (women). The use of a bird in poetry often signifies freedom, and Laux’s use of the female bird implies female freedom and independence. She follows with an interesting image of the bird’s “beak and breast/held back, claws raking at the pan” and this conjures a mental picture of a bird who is flying not head first into a window, but almost holding herself back even as she flies forward (Laux 212). This makes the bird seem stubborn, and follows with the theme of the independent female.
One distinction between Du Bois’ writing and Dunbar’s poetry is that the latter can be applied to all subjugated peoples whereas the former applies explicitly to African-Americans (of course, that does not make its message exclusive). Dunbar’s caged bird is a symbol not just of black strife; it is a symbol of all whose nature is suppressed, a motif as trite and true as any. Nevertheless, to draw together the works of Du Bois and Dunbar is to more comprehensively understand the literature and rhetoric of black
Lady Macbeth is a very 'crazy' character. She is blood thirsty and she will do anything she possibly can to gain power even if it means forever being cursed. Lady Macbeth is the farmer who planted the seed in Macbeth's head to become murderous and after that you couldn't stop him. She enters around the fifth scene of act 1 and her first impression is to kill her husband's best friend.
Moore begins the last stanza with an ambiguous “So”. Although one has a heightened awareness of mortality, one “behaves,” one keeps the ego disciplined. This is the same concept as that of the caged bird who, though held captive in a cruelly small space, continues to sing with all his heart. Despite the bird's lack of “satisfaction” because of his loss of flight and freedom, he knows “joy”.
To that end, the overall structure of the poem has relied heavily on both enjambment and juxtaposition to establish and maintain the contrast. At first read, the impact of enjambment is easily lost, but upon closer inspection, the significant created through each interruption becomes evident. Notably, every usage of enjambment, which occurs at the end of nearly every line, emphasizes an idea, whether it be the person at fault for “your / mistakes” (1-2) or the truth that “the world / doesn’t need” (2-3) a poet’s misery. Another instance of enjambment serves to transition the poem’s focus from the first poet to the thrush, emphasizing how, even as the poet “[drips] with despair all afternoon,” the thrush, “still, / on a green branch… [sings] / of the perfect, stone-hard beauty of everything” (14-18). In this case, the effect created by the enjambment of “still” emphasizes the juxtaposition of the two scenes. The desired effect, of course, is to depict the songbird as the better of the two, and, to that end, the structure fulfills its purpose
Martin Luther King and Henry David Thoreau each write exemplary persuasive essays that depict social injustice and discuss civil disobedience, which is the refusal to comply with the law in order to prove a point. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King speaks to a specific audience: the African Americans, and discusses why he feels they should bring an end to segregation. Thoreau on the other hand, in “Civil Disobedience,” speaks to a broader, non-addressed audience as he largely expresses his feelings towards what he feels is an unjust government. Both essays however, focus on the mutual topics of morality and justice and use these topics to inform and motivate their audience to, at times, defy the government in order to establish the necessary justice.
John Keats’s illness caused him to write about his unfulfillment as a writer. In an analysis of Keats’s works, Cody Brotter states that Keats’s poems are “conscious of itself as the poem[s] of a poet.” The poems are written in the context of Keats tragically short and painful life. In his ...
As the concept of traditional female is significant in Elizabethan society, Lady Macbeth is rather contradictory as she is ambitious and takes control to persuade Macbeth. To begin, when Lady Macbeth receives Macbeth’s letter with the witches appearance and the prophesies, she realizes that her husband is weak-willed and plans to persuade him to remove any obstacles. Worth mentioning is that not only she takes control of the situation but she spurs Macbeth into murdering Duncan by saying “…When you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7.49). She acts out of her role as she insults his manliness and declares that she would have “dash’d the brains out” (1.7.58) her child while it was feeding at her breast. This reveals her unwomanly characteristics as Lady Macbeth do not care for her children. At the same time, Lady Macbeth overrides the source of evil as she believes in witchcraft and calls for evil spirits for help. She state...
Albeit the verbalizer doesn't mention any races or ethnicity, it is pellucid that she is exhibiting how the freedoms allotted whites are diametrically opposed to those given to the Africans Americans. In the first stanza, the verbalizer illustrates how the free bird, or white race, is untroubled. It withal shows how the white race has the audacity to own and govern society inequitably. The speaker concludes'' (the free bird) dares to claim the sky". This shows how anglos demonstrated discrimination and prejudice toward blacks. Haplessly, this deplorable conduct was condoned in
Furthermore, the opening “I stand” sets e assertive tone in the [poem. The speaker never falters in presenting the complexity of her situation, as a woman, a black [person], and a slave. The tone set at the beginning also aid the audience to recognize that the speaker in the “white man’s violent system” is divided by women, and black by whites. The slave employs metaphors, which Barrett use to dramatized imprisonment behind a dark skin in a world where God’s work of creating black people has been cast away. To further illustrate this she described the bird as “ little dark bird”, she also describes the frogs and streams as “ dark frogs” and “ dark stream ripple” Through the use of her diction she convey to readers that in the natural world unlike the human one, there is no dark with bad and light with good, and no discrimination between black and white people.
Throughout the play Macbeth, characters start to emerge as dark and cruel. The author William Shakespeare writes about a strong and ambitiously powerful woman named Lady Macbeth. In the play, Lady Macbeth’s character shares with the audience that she believes her husband is not man enough to excel in completing the prophecy that the three witches have given to him. As a women, she makes sure to tell us that just because she is a women that you can be strong and independent. Although it may seem that Lady Macbeth has a tough exterior, she does proceed to have a conscience that causes her problems that comes to display later in the play.