Analysis Of The Juggler By Richard Wilbur

Have you ever seen a juggler? Jugglers can be found at carnivals and circuses and it is their job to entertain and impress people with their balancing skills. Many people enjoy watching going to these events and witnessing the phenomenal gift, including the juggler. In Richard Wilbur’s poem “Juggler” literary devices such as figurative language, vivid imagery and diction are used to depict the speaker’s amazement and admiration towards the juggler and the juggler and his remarkable expertise as someone who brings joy to people.

The poem’s form is used to communicate the speaker's emotions in Arnold Adoff poem, “Alone in The Nets”. For example, the poet uses several question marks throughout most of the poem. This conveys that the speaker is unsure of herself since she is constantly questioning why is she at the game, and what she is going to do. Another technique that was used were the ways the stanzas were used. The stanzas were scattered the same way the goalies thoughts were.

As the poem begins, the reader immediately visualizes someone playing outside in a “polka dot dress,” and this someone is the personification of poetry (1). Forman uses

In the poem, the speaker uses figurative language to reveal and portray that the objects that the juggler juggles have a sense or life of their own and how their actions make the show even more impressive on the juggler’s end. Whether it’s the ball's’ “own resilience” as it bounces less and less or “wheel on his wheeling hands”, the figurative language describes an inanimate object that is subject to the laws of nature and forces such as gravity which is shown by the line “falling is what it loves.” However, under the hands of the juggler, it’s as if the juggler has changed the ball’s natural tendencies to his own, becoming the ball’s own force that it has to follow. The juggler appears to be as an omnipotent

The fact that enjambment is used throughout the poem such as in the lines, “like a colour slide or press an ear against its hive” portrays a lack of structure and therefore emphasizes the initial enjoyment one feels when reading a poem before the chore of analyzing it begins. This is also emphasized through the fact that the poem is a free verse poem.

Richard Wilbur, a legendary figure and the poet of "The Juggler", withholds great historical background unknown to many individuals. Despite of young age, Wilbur composed numerous short-stories, poems and editorials for college newspaper. In consideration with a majority of the masterpieces, a prominent theme exhibited throughout each is based upon the observations of surroundings and the natural world. Historically, Wilbur's involvement within World War II contributed significant influence in various poems. Similarly, "The Juggler" primarily emphasizes the notion of fluctuations involved within juggling, comparing such to harsh realities of daily routines.

“I’d go on my two bare feet. But when, with my brother’s jack-knife, I had cut me a long limber horse with a good thick knob for a head…The willow knob with the strap jouncing between my thighs was the pommel and yet the poll of my nickering pony’s head,” says the main character. He basks in the glory of his younger years, and longs for a time when he was oblivious to all of the evils of the world. Containing many simple phrases, the structure of the poem brings an airy vibe to the mystical imagery. “My teeth bared as we wheeled and swished through the dust again. I was the horse and the rider, and the leather I slapped to his rump spanked my own behind,” reads the poem. Descriptive verbs allow the reader to see the character’s movements. The reader is able to easily understand that the character is comparing himself to his horse which he becomes one with. The poem is written in a first person point of view in which the character is within and beside

In the third stanza, the diction of “heaven” and “noble” allows the speaker to craft an image of an almost godlike juggler. This view of the juggler creates the tone of amazement and ardent which breaks through the previous gloomy description of the earth in the first stanza which “falls/ So in our hearts from brilliance” (lines 3-4). This reveals that the world the juggler has made, unlike the earth which the speaker doesn’t appear to have fond feelings of, is a joyful and light-hearted place that the speaker is easily captivated by. As the juggler “reels that heaven in” (line 16), creates an atmosphere of an almost unearthly experience. This description of the juggler as a master of spiritual elements allows readers to view how the speaker's attitude is uplifted and enlightened.

The structure is simple, 4 sets of three lined stanzas. The introduction sums up the feeling of what many felt when he was bowled out first ball, “bowled out for a duck, you could have asked for better”, alliteration is also used in this literature eg “war, women waiting”. I’ve used descriptive words to paint pictures in the head to create a mental image of what I saw that day eg “clear white flannels sharp against the green turf”. The whole poem has that flowing feel to it also just like the first poem mentioned.

As the poem progresses, we can see how the juggler manipulates the five red balls he is using to move around his body. Richard Wilbur uses figurative language like personification to show how the balls move by the tricks the juggler does. Wilbur says, “ The balls roll around, wheel on his wheeling hand, learning the ways of lightness, alter to spheres, grazing his finger ends, cling to their course there.” ( lines 8-11). The author explains how the

The poem progresses from mourning of the deceased to praising of his achievements and fate to die before his glory withered. Therefore, the tone shifts from somber and quiet to upbeat and positive. Such shift of tone is achieved by Housman’s use of sounds. In first two stanzas, Housman describes the funeral procession as he remembers the time when the young athlete was proudly brought home after he won a race. Then, he solaces the mourners by reminding them it is better that the athlete “slip betimes away from fields where glory does not stay” (lines 9 and 10) because the laurel “withers quicker than the rose” (line 12). The soft “s” sound stands out especially in second and third stanza and it creates a sense of calm and quiet tone and evokes an image of townspeople mourning the death of their “hero”; Consonance of “s” sounds is present in words “shoulder, set, threshold, townsman, stiller, smart, slip, betimes, fields, does, stay, grows, withers, and rose.” In addition to consonance, soft sound alliteration in “road all runners” (line 5) helps to create a quiet tone. As the poem progresses into praising of the young athlete in stanzas four through seven, the consonance of hard “c”, “t”, and “f” sound become prominent. Readers can immediately detect

Competitive, this is the imagery that this poem is creating and the reason why the author did this is to show us how competitive this swimmer is. This swimmer is in a race and he wants to win, the author shows us that the swimmer was well trained and ready for this. The author uses many imagery in his poem and it lets us picture in our head what is going on. When you read the poem you picture everything, nothing is a blur and you know what exactly is going on in this poem. To me it was like watching the whole thing in my head while I was reading it, without the imagery the author put in I would understand a thing about what was going on. “He flips, converts, and is gone all in one. We watch him for signs. His arms are steady at the catch, his cadent feet tick in the stretch, they know the lesson well.” In these two sentences you can picture what is going on, and in these two sentences the author shows us again how good of technique this swimmer

In the poem “Juggler”, by Richard Wilbur, the speaker describes the juggler as someone able to lift the spirits of his audience through his spectacular performance. Through the use of literary elements such as imagery, tone, and figurative language, the speaker creates the image of the juggler as a gravity defying being, who not only lifts objects but also the heart of those that watch, and how the speaker himself is among those entertained. Imagery is first used by the speaker to describe the soft, weightlessness of the ball in motion, as seen by the audience. Because of the juggler’s expertise, he is able to control the balls as if the laws of physics did not apply to it. “The balls roll around, wheel on his wheeling hands, Learning the ways

Although the poem begins by talking generally about the fundamental process of life, lines 3 and 4 bring an individual to the stage in which the poem is set forth. This is done by introducing the art of fiddle playing and the skill that such a feat requires. A skill is a tenet that sets apart an individual from a general crowd. It is something that one may seek pleasure from and it is here that the speaker of the poem creates this separation- the individual.

Ever since I was young, I have always been fascinated by the challenge of completing a puzzle. I spent most of my free time decoding crosswords, sifting through hundreds of pieces in order to find the one that fits perfectly in the missing space, or analyzing the 9x9 cells of a game of Sudoku until I reached success. Poetry is a conundrum that has an infinite amount of answers and interpretations, which is one of the many reasons as to why it is such a special and unique form of art. The way an author is able to address a topic of such depth and complexity with a limited amount of words, to me, is a puzzle in itself. The challenge of comprehending and identifying the various meanings within a single piece of poetry is one of the many reasons why it is able to capture my undivided attention. Although I appreciate poetry in all forms, slam poetry stands out to me the most. Having the opportunity to hear a poem with all of the raw emotion that the author intended the audience to feel as they were writing it is not something that should be taken for granted. Hearing the rise and fall of the author’s voice as they perform a poem allows me to form a deeper connection with not only the poem as a whole, but also the poet. The passion that projects out of Michael Lee’s voice as he performs “Pass On,” the anxious and innocent tone created by the short enjambment used by Gary Soto in “Oranges,” and the way that Mary Oliver finds peace in the beauty of nature throughout “Grass” leaves