What Is The Mood Of The Writer By Richard Wilbur

765 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An analysis of poem

Richard Wilbur’s, “The Writer,” is a poem that is composed of many literary devices. These devices are used by an author as a way to convey their message. Each and every device is completely different but they all serve the same purpose. Wilbur uses metaphors, diction, and imagery, which tie in together because the specific words he uses in his poem provide the reader with an image. Throughout the whole poem, imagery plays a key role in explaining the meaning of the story in a way the reader can understand. In a critical review called, “Wilbur's 'The Writer'” written by Mohan Ramanen, he says, ”Wilbur organizes the poem in terms of two sets of images--the one natural, the other that of the whistling bird, the starling” (1). When Ramanen says the first image is, “the one natural,” he means the nature within being on a ship. Wilbur uses certain words and/or phase to emphasise his comparison of the house to a ship. The daughter mentioned in the poem is writing a story, “in her room at the prow of the house” (Line 1). The word, “prow” is the …show more content…

The starling who was confused and really struggled, with great difficulty attempted to find a way out of the room by beating it’s wings but hit the hard floor and desktop. After it injured itself, the bird laid down while being covered in blood until an hour later when it got up to try again. When the starling was ready, it rose up, lifted off the back of the chair, then “beat a smooth course for the right window/and cleared the sill of the world” (29-30). The reader obtains the image of the weary bird escaping through an open window that it did not see before. This relates to the same situation that the young girl is going through. She is trapped with hardships and feels like giving up when she thinks is no way out when she actually just needs to find her own open

Show More
Related

  • Nancy Cato's Poem 'The Dead Swagman'

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are multiple examples of visual imagery in this poem. An example of a simile is “curled like a possum within the hollow trunk”. The effect this has is the way it creates an image for the reader to see how the man is sleeping. An example of personification is, “yet both belonged to the bush, and now are one”. The result this has is how it creates an emotion for the reader to feel

    Read More

  • Trethewey's 'History Lesson'

    309 Words  | 1 Pages

    The symbols that stand out to understand the central concern of the poem are the camera, the photograph of the narrator and the photograph of the narrator’s grandmother. The camera symbolizes the time that has passed between the generations of the grandmother and the narrator. It acts as a witness of the past and the present after taking the photos of the narrator in the bikini and the grandmother in the dress. Her grandmother is wearing a “cotton meal-sack dress” (l. 17), showing very little skin exposure, representing

    Read More

  • report on letters from a father

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...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

    Read More

  • Dorianne Laux’s “Bird”

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Paula Gunn Allen's 'Recuerdo Is In Spanish Meaning'

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    The language of the poem holds five of the eight languages to poetry. Allegory, personification, symbols, figures, and metaphors. In the beginning of the poem she uses Allegory, Personification and a metaphor. “Allegory- related symbols working together with characters, events, or settings representing ideas or moral qualities” (Sporre). Paula compares the silence in the air to describe how clear the air was. Going on to using personification and a metaphor, “Peaks rise above me like the Gods. That is where they live, the old people say.” Personification is the figure of speech in which abstract qualities, animals, or inanimate objects take into many forms of literature (Sporre). Metaphors, are figures of speech by which new implications are given to words. Metaphors are implied but not explicit comparisons (Sporre). She goes on to imply that the Gods lives above us in the peaks, that’s where the old people say that they live. Using Symbols, “Which is critical to poetry, which uses compressed language to express, and carry us into its meaning (Sporre).” Ending the first line she writes “I listen and I heard”. Going on to explain how she heard the voice in the wind and by giving us the emotion of that feeling set the understanding of what the poem was all about. Following the next line Paula uses a form of Imagery. A verbal representation of objects, feelings, or ideas can be literal or figurative. figurative imagery involves a change in

    Read More

  • Robert Updike's The Great Scarf Of Birds

    428 Words  | 1 Pages

    At the beginning of the poem, the speaker starts by telling the reader the place, time and activity he is doing, stating that he saw something that he will always remember. His description of his view is explained through simile for example “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets of their branches” (Updike), captivating the reader’s attention

    Read More

  • Abigail Deutsch's Poem After The Disaster

    512 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the combination of enjambed and end-stopped lines, the reader almost physically feels the emphasis on certain lines, but also feels confusion where a line does not end. Although the poem lacks a rhyme scheme, lines like “…not long after the disaster / as our train was passing Astor” and “…my eyes and ears…I couldn't think or hear,” display internal rhyme. The tone of the narrator changes multiple times throughout the poem. It begins with a seemingly sad train ride, but quickly escalates when “a girl came flying down the aisle.” During the grand entrance, imagery helps show the importance of the girl and how her visit took place in a short period of time. After the girl’s entrance, the narrator describes the girl as a “spector,” or ghost-like figure in a calm, but confused tone. The turning point of the poem occurs when the girl “stopped for me [the narrator]” and then “we [the girl and the narrator] dove under the river.” The narrator speaks in a fast, hectic tone because the girl “squeez[ed] till the birds began to stir” and causes her to not “think or hear / or breathe or see.” Then, the tone dramatically changes, and becomes calm when the narrator says, “so silently I thanked her,” showing the moment of

    Read More

  • Literary Devices In A Barred Owl By Richard Wilbur And Collins

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ability of words to calm a child’s fears is shown in “A Barred Owl.” Additionally, the author conveys the idea that even though one may say everything is alright, what one makes up in one’s mind is often worse than reality. The rhyme scheme in “A Barred Owl” helps depict the simple and soothing tone of the poem. Not only the rhyme scheme but also the repetition of certain consonants and sounds such as, “the warping night air having brought the boom / of an owl’s voice into her darkened room” help emphasize Wilbur’s i...

    Read More

  • Audubon and Dillard

    447 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Three Symbols in Trifles by Susan Glaspell

    305 Words  | 1 Pages

    The birdcage represents how Mrs. Wright was trapped in her marriage, and could not escape it. The birdcage door is broken which represents her broken marriage to Mr. Wright. It also represents Mrs. Wright escaping her marriage from Mr. Wright. When the door is open it allows Mrs. Wright to became a free woman. At one point in time the cage door use to have a lock that locked the bird inside the cage. This represents how Mr. Wright kept Mrs. Wright locked up from society. Mr. Wright knew that by keeping Mrs. Wright locked up, she would never be able to tell anyone how he really acted. Mr. Wright was very cruel to his wife.

    Read More

  • Susan Glaspell's Trifles

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    The symbolism of bird illustrate as Mrs. Wright’s spirit and a Cage as Mr. Wright oppression of his wife and her spirit. This shows how comparing to Mrs. Wright’s early life, her present is. The comparison here is between Minnie (mrs.wright) and the bird. The fire might have represented their marriage and the fire probably goes out after the murder. In addition, uneven sewn quilt block symbolizes her disturbed mental condition.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Richard Wilbur's Only In Dreams In The House Of Poe

    2335 Words  | 5 Pages

    In "The House of Poe", Richard Wilbur elucidates his criticisms of Poe 's work. He firstly comments on a critic 's purpose, then how Poe 's stories are all allegories. He then addresses the possible opposition to his argument, and then begins his discussion of the common themes in Poe 's writing and provides examples from his stories. This dissertation will analyze Wilbur 's criticism by cross referencing Poe 's work and how it exemplifies Wilbur 's assessment. There is a great deal of evidence to support Wilbur 's theories, but a close examination of each one will determine how legitimate his argument really is.

    Read More

  • The Differences and Similarities Between Caged Bird and Still I Rise

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    bird as the metaphor of the poem to get the message of the poem across

    Read More

  • Whitman's Out Of The Cradle Endlessly Rocking

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perhaps the most complicated symbol within the poem "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" is that of the moon. Each time the moon appears, it appears in a way that is a striking reflection of the love of the bird.The most obvious object Whitman uses to communicate about love is the birds, the "feathered guests from Alabama". While the bird symbols in Lilacs and Cradle may seem very similar, the bird in Lilacs is a symbol of a transcendentalist view of death in the scheme of nature, and the bird in Cradle is a symbol of a much different view of death—the personal, acute pain of a lover left to mourn. Although the birds love is significant, the boy is also an important theme and the relationship between the two may be key to understanding Whitman's intention. Another object of love is the boy in the poem, which the author's voice allows us to assume is Whitman himself.Another major factor affecting the communication of Whitman's ideas on death is the diction and tone of each poem. In Cradle, death is personal, grieving is acutely painful, and death is presented as an inevitable force oppressing ...

    Read More

  • A Bird Came down the Walk by Emily Dickinson

    1783 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...er readers. Dickinson’s use of literary devices and her creativity enables her to imaginatively describe the beauty and grace from a simple and familiar observation. It is through her use of tone, imagery, and sound that she exploits a keen sense of respect for at the very least the little bird, if not also nature itself. Dickinson recreates and expresses the magnificence and smoothness of the bird soaring across the sky. She uses tone to create the mood to emphasize the theme. She uses sound and imagery to not only tell the reader about the awesome flight of the bird, but to help the reader experience and connect to the little bird and nature in hope that they too will learn to respect nature.

    Read More

More about What Is The Mood Of The Writer By Richard Wilbur

Open Document