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A minor bird analysis
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“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” - Binaries and Deconstruction Blackbirds, with their sleek dark feathers and foreboding caws, are symbols in some cultures for the unknown and darkness. In the Wallace Stevens’, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”, the blackbird is a freestanding sign that is unaffected by the restraints of the binaries woven throughout the poem. Stevens utilizes many different aspects of dualistic divisions in order to demonstrate the deconstructive narrative of the different metaphoric attributes of the blackbird and scenery surrounding it. The poem addresses the dichotomy of the number thirteen, dualism of light and dark, commentary of the human psyche and condition, and the opposition of life and death are …show more content…
The poem opens with, “in twenty snowy mountains, the only thing moving thing was the eye of the blackbird.” Through this passage, we can infer that the blackbird itself is soaring above the snowy mountains. An abstract vision of the layers between the black and white is created. The “blackbird” is a stark contrast in color with the “snowy mountains”, which are white, solid, and vast while the“blackbird” is black, moving, and small. However, the blackbird separates from the mountains and even from itself, with the “only moving thing was the eye of the blackbird.” The blackbird in this section symbolizes nature with the words, “only moving thing.” This simple phrase highlights the continuity of nature, how even in a seemingly timeless setting, the blackbird is still a singularity representing the abstract of time.The center of the poem shifts from the blackbird to the mountains which erodes from the original binary of light versus dark. Instead, Stevens draws us to the binary of nature versus culture. Indicating how nature is elevated above culture, the “light” or “white” mountains conceal hidden dangers of the snow, flipping the innocence to something darker indicative of culture suppressing individuals, while the blackbird is the epitome of nature, is reflective of the natural form of the world. In attempt to bring meaning into the chaos, Stevens displays through the next few stanzas the chaos of the human condition and how the blackbirds’ symbolism of nature soars above
The first two lines of the poem set the mood of fear and gloom which is constant throughout the remainder of the poem. The word choice of "black" to describe the speaker's face can convey several messages (502). The most obvious meaning ...
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.
This gives the effect that although there is mass devastation, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, in this case for the eagle, the leftover remains of a carcass. However, as seen throughout the poem this isn’t the case for everyone and everything as the dead or dying clearly outnumber those prospering from the drought. This further adds to the miserable and discouraging mood of the poem. Other poetic devices are also used during the course of the
"The Raven" shaped two important images: a young man with a crow. Sad man just lost the woman he loves, he attempted to immerse yourself in the book in order to forget the pain, but all in vain, the more he read, the more erosion of loneliness and grief; while the symbol of death and ominous crows, but at midnight, flying into this man who often meet with the deceased lover Leinuo hut. In addition, the poet also created two poems on the subject of imagery plays an important role. One is black, "pure tone can make people happy or to generate a sense of depression". Throughout the poem uses a black background; make the reader feel depressed, so men feel the heart of the fear and grief.
“Skimming slightly, wheeling still, the swallows fly low over the field in clouded days,” The birds (swallows, to be exact) are mentioned twice, at the beginning and end of the poem. They seem to be the introduction and closing. They are solemn and peaceful, yet are also reminders of the battle. Or are they peaceful? The clouds could represent the clouded confusion of the battle and aftermath, and the sad and melancholy tones of the area
As a way to end his last stanza, the speaker creates an image that surpasses his experiences. When the flock rises, the speaker identifies it as a lady’s gray silk scarf, which the woman has at first chosen, then rejected. As the woman carelessly tosses the scarf toward the chair the casual billow fades from view, like the birds. The last image connects nature with a last object in the poet's
John Updike’s poem “The Great Scarf of Birds” expresses the varying emotions the narrator experiences as he witnesses certain events from nature. His narration of the birds throughout the poem acts as numerous forms of imagery and symbolism concerning him and his life, and this becomes a recollection of the varying emotional stances he comes to terms with that he has experienced in his life. These changes are so gradually and powerfully expressed because of a fluent use of diction and figurative language, specifically symbolism and simile, and aided by organization.
Wallace Stevens is not an easy poet to understand. His work is purposely twisted and tangled so one is forced to thing-whether they want to or not. Stevens’ poetry ranges from real life situations to situations which are simply a depiction of his imagination. One thing can be concluded though, Stevens does not allow his work to have a single meaning. Why should he? This is the upmost quality that makes his stand out from his competitors in the poetic industry. An interesting theme though which Wallace truly enjoys writing about, in all seriousness, is something thought provoking- perception. The book definition of perception is “appending [something] by the means of senses or the mind” . In his poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”, Stevens offers multiple definitions of this single concept. It just depends on what the reader can decipher from thirteen parts consisting of short verses.
The purpose of the poem was to express my interests of nature and how I felt and what I experienced when I was in the woods at that time. There’s also that life and death aspect in this poem, in which the bird has the lizard in his mouth and also by the word “fire”.
In his poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, John Updike uses a flock of birds to show that man can be uplifted by observing nature. Updike’s conclusion is lead up to with the beauty of autumn and what a binding spell it has on the two men playing golf. In Updike’s conclusion and throughout the poem, he uses metaphors, similes, and diction to show how nature mesmerizes humans.
The poem relies on the idea of personal experience from the poet, which classifies this poem as a type of lyric poetry. The author starts off the poem with a mood of comfort and love when he reminisces on the topic of autumn, specifically “late September.” Sensory imagery is revealed in the first few lines of the poem when the author says, “among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries/to eat blackberries for breakfast.” Along with the imagery, the readers could notice the blending of the wilderness and civilization through the nature of humankind’s necessities when the poet says the “blackberries for breakfast.” Also, in this same line, the author reveals the usage of alliteration with “love, late; black, blackberries; etc. The poem can also be seen as a simile between the comparison of blackberries and words. The words have many letters and contain one syllable compared to the hyperbolic adjectives that are used to emphasize the sensation of the blackberries. The words create a heightening in the meaning as well as relations to the “strengths” and “squinched” of the words among the few vowels of the
An elegance in word choice that evokes a vivid image. It would take a quite a bit of this essay to completely analyze this essay, so to break it down very briefly. It portrays a positive image of blackness as opposed to darkness and the color black normally being connected with evil, sorrow, and negativity. The poem as a whole connects blackness with positivity through its use of intricate, beautiful words and images.
Annie Dillard portrays her thoughts differently in her passage, incorporating a poetic sense that is carried through out the entire passage. Dillard describes the birds she is viewing as “transparent” and that they seem to be “whirling like smoke”. Already one could identify that Dillard’s passage has more of poetic feel over a scientific feel. This poetic feeling carries through the entire passage, displaying Dillard’s total awe of these birds. She also incorporates word choices such as “unravel” and that he birds seem to be “lengthening in curves” like a “loosened skein”. Dillard’s word choice implies that he is incorporating a theme of sewing. As she describes these birds she seems to be in awe and by using a comparison of sewing she is reaching deeper inside herself to create her emotions at the time.
bird as the metaphor of the poem to get the message of the poem across
“A Bird came down the Walk,” was written in c. 1862 by Emily Dickinson, who was born in 1830 and died in 1886. This easy to understand and timeless poem provides readers with an understanding of the author’s appreciation for nature. Although the poem continues to be read over one hundred years after it was written, there is little sense of the time period within which it was composed. The title and first line, “A Bird came down the Walk,” describes a common familiar observation, but even more so, it demonstrates how its author’s creative ability and artistic use of words are able to transform this everyday event into a picture that results in an awareness of how the beauty in nature can be found in simple observations. In a step like narrative, the poet illustrates the direct relationship between nature and humans. The verse consists of five stanzas that can be broken up into two sections. In the first section, the bird is eating a worm, takes notice of a human in close proximity and essentially becomes frightened. These three stanzas can easily be swapped around because they, for all intents and purposes, describe three events that are able to occur in any order. Dickinson uses these first three stanzas to establish the tone; the tone is established from the poet’s literal description and her interpretive expression of the bird’s actions. The second section describes the narrator feeding the bird some crumbs, the bird’s response and its departure, which Dickinson uses to elaborately illustrate the bird’s immediate escape. The last two stanzas demonstrate the effect of human interaction on nature and more specifically, this little bird, so these stanzas must remain in the specific order they are presented. Whereas most ...