Great Scarf Of Birds

In John Updike’s poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, he uses diction and figurative speech to depict the beautiful autumn season to show how inspiring and uplifting nature is to man. Updike chooses autumn as the season to set his story in because generally, it is the season that has the most vivid vibrant colors in nature such as the ripe apples which are described as “red

Nevertheless, in the poem ‘Nesting time’, Stewart interprets a personal experience in first person of the appearance of a bird that lands upon his daughter and forgets the thought of the harsh world. Stewart’s descriptive language repeatedly explains the poem as if seen in his viewpoint, beginning with an interjection, ‘oh’ communicating of his incredulity of an ‘absurd’ bird. Symbolizing the bird with strong coloured imagery its ‘mossy green, sunlit’, described to be bright and joyful, with sweetness shown with the type of bird, ‘honey-eater’, Douglas Stewart takes the time to describe its admiration juxtaposed to the dangerous world surrounding it. While visualizing the birds actions, ‘pick-pick-pick’ of alliteration and repetition of its

Birds are an exotic species. The ability to fly and dart across the beautiful, open sky is something no other creature can do. Both authors of these passages seem to have found their magnificence and were taken by storm when writing their excerpts. John James Audubon and Annie Dillard both worked graciously to achieve success in their writing. These authors have written wonderful paragraphs filled with rhetorical devices that are both the same and vastly different.

In the letters, Document E, Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork, it says, “Looking up at one of these black-and-silver birds as it moved among the massive deep-blue rain clouds. We suddenly felt a lot less oppressed. . . .” This explains how the sky and the beauty of the sky and the rain clouds and the birds gave them a feeling of freedom and serenity.

John James Audubon and Annie Dillard capture the true essense of life itself as they describe flocks of migrating birds in their books Ornithological Biographies and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Both passages stress the importance of taking time out of every day to appreciate the sheer beauty of the world. However, both authors utilize different rhetorical devices to illustrate the birds and the different effects the creatures had on them. Although his piece is lengthier than Dillard’s, Audubon paints a picture of the birds in a more scientific manner.

The writer makes use of diction to express his feelings towards the literary work and to set the dramatic tone of the poem. Throughout the poem, there is repetition of the word “I”, which shows the narrator’s individual feeling of change in the heart, as he experiences the sight of hundreds of birds fly across the October sky. As the speaker effortlessly recounts the story, it is revealed how deeply personal it is to him. Updike applies the words “flock” and “bird” repetitively to the poem, considering the whole poem is about the sight of seeing so many birds and the effect this has on a person. When the speaker first sees the flock of birds in lines 8-10, alliteration is applied to draw attention to what the narrator is witnessing. In line 29, Updike

Diction affects the tone of the passage. Starting from line 14, the diction evolves into a more negative view. He uses biblical reference towards the beginning of the stanza. He begins to analyze his surroundings more rigorously, and sees the differences in how they look from a distance, to how they appear close by. Once this negative connotation has begun, the flock is said to be “paled, pulsed, compressed, distended, yet held an identity firm” (Lines 20-21). The author’s choice of words as in “less marvelous” (line 25) indicates his intention for making his lines definite, giving it a solid state of meaning. It symbolizes that the feeling of someone longing for something, and once they receive it are not as impressed by it. The diction plays a critical role when the tone of the qualities of nature are exposed. The author conveys the “trumpeting” of the geese as an exaltation to the beauty and simplicity of nature. “A cloud appeared, a cloud of dots like iron filings which a magnet underneath the paper undulates” (Lines 16-18). The iron filings in this phrase symbolize the issues the man faces. Once he looks closely at the flock, he realizes that these issues are only miniscule and do not add up to life in general. This elates him, thus concluding him to lift his heart.

The poem The Great Scarf of Birds by John Updike is something of a chronological piece that walks the reader through a day beginning with a normal day of golf that leads to a witness of nature’s beauty and a heart-wrenching, bleak statement of self discovery. The organization of the poem is purely time-based, using cues such as the tinting of the sky to exhibit a passage of time. The diction of the poem is mostly delicate language rife with imagery to try and show the reader the extent of the feelings of wonder that the narrator is holding for nature at this time. Uses of phrases such as “swaying vases of sky,” show the author’s rich language used to describe their surroundings. There is also a line that displays the intensity the author has for the image of the swelling flock above him, “It dartingly darkened in spots darkened in spots paled,pulsed, compressed,distended yet held an identity firm.” This line is set up to be read fast, the closeness of the words leading with hard syllables leads you feel the shock that the narrator is at the sight of the massive, awe inducing flock.

John James Audubon and Annie Dillard, both established writers, expertly describe their experiences observing a flock of birds. Their evaluations go in depth in the form of both a physical description of events and well as the emotions exposed from those events. Although both of the authors use rhetorical strategies to enhance their writing, they convey their message making different stylistic choices.

Thus, through the initial impression of the man of the bird’s brave and challenging movements by the utilisation of poetic techniques, the reader is able to visualise the bird’s characteristic it inherits and gain a deeper understanding of nature and the impression of humanity distinctively.

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

Birds are a common sight in most places people tend to be. These winged creatures are seen in bustling places like the pigeons that are in urban and suburban areas, the woodpeckers in rural regions, the crows on farms, and even in cages within buildings. In fact, these elegant creatures are so common a sight in society that they are often overlooked and underappreciated. This is similar to how women were and sometimes still are treated within society; they are given little appreciation when they are present and doing as they are told, but when they do not do as they are told they become a problem. This parallel that can be drawn between women and birds is used throughout Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, in which its main character Edna Pontellier is often likened to and symbolized by a bird. Throughout the novel, the bird acts as a theme and symbol of both Edna and women in general.

These three lines are perfect examples of the imagery within the poem because they contain an image of a river with its small peeks and waves trembling and glistening in the afternoon sun. All the while it equates the natural beauty of the river to the beauty that the young man sees in the youthful maiden.

Some sound imagery can make the whole passage lively, in the poem, the author describe the duck’s sound “ A wild duck calls to her mate , and the ragged and passionate tones tagger and fall, and recover, and stagger

To elaborate, the reader can not truly hear what is taking place in the poem, but does get a sense of being able to hear what they are reading. For instance when the speaker says “While his gills were breathing in” (22), the reader can almost hear the fish breathing. The speaker again stimulates the auditory senses when she says “and a fine black thread, / still crimped from the strain and snap” (58-59). Again the reader can virtually hear the sound of the line snapping. The next aspect of imagery that needs to be examined is the sensory imagery. An excellent example of sensory imagery is found when reading the lines “It was more like the tipping, / of an object toward light” (43-44). These lines can give an almost unbalanced feeling to the reader as they conceptualize these words. Imagery is not the only important element used in this poem. As stated earlier, irony is an important component involved in “The Fish”.