Analysis of 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird' by Wallace Stevens

The song, “Blackbird,” was written by the iconic British boy band The Beatles in 1968. During this time period, the civil rights movement was on the rise and people had very conflicted views about racism and how they should cope with it. Innocent lives were lost and people were struggling both physically and emotionally. Blackbird’s lyrics and melody gives you a taste of that struggle and pain those individuals went through in their lives. The song is expressing about having perseverance and faith in the midst of trials that come your way.

Usually, death is not a happy thing, but the caged bird sings when he is “fling” to heaven. This irony also show how depressed the caged bird must be to look forward to his own death. A word that definitely has a special meaning is the word “caged bird”. The caged bird is more than a figurative cage with a bird inside. I thought it could mean being trapped, denied freedom, and denied “the spring grass”The river flow”. Another repetition is the first sentence of each stanza. “I know what the caged bird feels, alas”, “I know why the caged bird beats his wing”, “I know why the caged bird sing, ah me”. The phrase“I know” shows the author identifies with the

Blackbird is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney recorded in 1968. McCartney wrote this song about the civil rights struggle for blacks after reading about race riots in the USA. He penned it in his kitchen in Scotland not long after an incident in Little Rock, when the federal courts forced the racial desegregation of the Arkansas capital 's school system. McCartney told Mojo magazine, October 2008: "We were totally immersed in the whole saga which was unfolding. So I got the idea of using a blackbird as a symbol for a black person. It wasn 't necessarily a black 'bird ', but it works that way, as much as then you called girls 'birds '; the Everlys had had 'Bird Dog, ' so the word 'bird ' was around. 'Take these broken wings ' was very much in my mind, but it wasn 't exactly an ornithological ditty; it was purposely symbolic."(Principia, 2015) During the 1960’s black people were having very hard time with discrimination. This song is so deep and at the same time, so metaphoric that it can be used as a song of freedom in any circumstances. The song says that even if you are not free, if you live in darkness, if your wings are broken and your eyes sunken, you should always try to rise, fly and follow the light that shines even in the darkest night. Blackbird is song rich in figurative language that reminds African Americans to not give up, to keep trying even if they think there is no hope. McCartney writes about freedom

The author uses imagery in the poem to enable the reader to see what the speaker sees. For example, in lines 4-11 the speaker describes to us the

Awe and confusion of reality is prevalent in human nature. Subconscious attitudes which affect the perceptions of one's waking life are brought into judgement when questioning reality. Surrealism examines the creativity of the subconscious mind, along with its reaction to perceived reality. Poet Wallace Stevens uses his surrealistic writing style to express his questioning of reality. Themes of ordinariness, found in Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird and Disillusionment of Ten O’clock, bring forth the questioning of society’s definition of normality. Through his abstract writing, Stevens further questions the validity of the concept of normality. Nonetheless, ordinariness as a subject suggests that the questioning of reality is universal.

Imagery establishes a picture in readers head; throughout the text getting readers to visualize. For example, when she drew the picture of “flawless/ peaches” (6-7). The use of repetition allows the poet to convey the significance of her message to readers; multiple times the author uses the word “otherwise”, to effectively illustrate how things could be worse. Causing the readers

The first element our writers used to express their message of wanting to be free is form. The narrator for ‘The Caged Bird” feels alone and wishes to be able to snatch the chains that keep her tied down. Also, in the poem “Sympathy” by Dunbar as well an in “The Caged Bird” both authors used a bird to symbolize the captivity and aspiration for freedom. Both poets wrote their piece in lyric form because of obvious reasons. A lyric poem is defined as a poem that expresses personal and emotional feelings. Writing poems with this form shows the amount of deep emotion that the narrator feels toward this work. In addition, both authors wrote their poems in iambic pentameter to make the poem sound like a natural flow of speech to really show the deep feelings the poets are feeling.

The imagery used in this verse appeals to the sense sight. This helps the reader visualise what the writer is taking about. It also allows the reader to relate and connect more to the poem.

“The free bird thinks of another breeze….a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams…” The two literary works “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” can be seen as mockingbirds that have flown over fields of prejudice and repeat what they have seen for all to hear. Jem Finch, a young boy and lawyer’s son from “To Kill a Mockingbird” clearly symbolizes a mockingbird because of his youth and innocence, and because of his innocence he cannot fully understand the racism in the story. Jem also has many similarities to the caged and free birds in “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, whether it be Jem’s

What is the speaker describing in the first stanza? How does this description help the reader to understand how the caged bird feels? How does the speaker’s identification with the bird’s feelings tell you something about how the speaker feels?

“The blackbird calls in grief” is an anonymously written poem from the twelfth century. The narrator laments the death of loved ones. In the poem, the narrator begins by lamenting to a blackbird. He mourns the passing of both the birds and his own family. The bird is personified and the two share in their grief. “The harm now happened to him/ not long since happened to me” (Kinsella 85). An analogy is created equating the loss of the two families and the injustice of the loss. The bird is removed from the poem after the sixth stanza, the grief is only the narrators to bare. The seventh stanza questions God, “O You who made the world, / Your bias is hard to bear:/ friends all around me are spared, / their woman and young survive” (Kinsella 86). This poem is distinctive compared even to more modern poems. This is perhaps why the author chose to remain

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” depicts two birds which are used as metaphors to express the state in which the two classes of people live. In one description the poem describes the standard of living of a bird of privilege which alludes to the lives of whites. Then it describes caged birds whom of which are crying out for freedom, and are meant to represent African Americans during this time. It describes the feeling of being trapped and calling out for

The poem is about the vulnerability, innermost torment and the suppression of an emotional and fragile personality symbolized through the image of a Bluebird hidden inside the speakers mind.

The mood of “Caged Bird” changes drastically from stanza to stanza. Angelou’s specific diction choices help to reflect the change from being positive to negative with some elements of hope involved. The parts of the poem involving the free bird provide the reader with a feeling of self government.In contrast, the mood associated with the caged bird is confinment. Despite the negative mood tied to the caged bird there are still elements of hope woven into these stanzas.

The poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” is written by Wallace Stevens. It contains thirteen sections; each section provides us a picture that is centered by the element of blackbird. Blackbird in the poem signifies people’s consciousness. So this poem wants to tell us that every person has a perspective to look at the world. It questions our process of thought to understand the world, and reminds us realize the problem of it. In “The Language of Paradox” by Cleanth Brooks, he introduces the notion of paradox and its application in poetry. In Stevens’ poem we can also find how he uses the device of paradox to raise the question for many times, and also the use of paradox leads us to