“The Writer” by Richard Wilbur

Keely  McAveney  Ms.  Kramer    

AP  English  –  Period  2  16  March  2014  

 

Stanza  1  In  her  room  at  the  prow  of  the  house  

Where  light  breaks,  and  the  windows  are  tossed  with  linden,  

My  daughter  is  writing  a  story.  

The  speaker,  a  father,  can  hear  his  daughter  writing,  much  like  he  does.    

•  En  Media  Raes    

•  Enjambment  

•  Imagery  •  “at  the  prow  of  the  house”  •  “where  the  light  breaks”  •  “the  windows  are  tossed  with  

linden”  

Stanza  2  I  pause  in  the  stairwell,  hearing  

From  her  shut  door  a  commotion  of  type-­‐writer  keys  

Like  a  chain  hauled  over  a  gunwale.  

The  speaker  continues  to  listen  to  the  sound  of  his  daughter’s  typing.  It  sounds  loud  and  weighty,  like  writing  should  be.  It  should  dare  to  be  loud  and  carry  intellectual  weight.    

•  Enjambment    

•  Motif  •  Ship  

•  “chain  hauled  over  a  gunwale”  

•  Simile    •  “Like  a  chain  hauled  over  gunwale”  

•  Imagery  •  “commotion  of  type-­‐writer  keys”  

Stanza  3  Young  as  she  is,  the  stuff  

Of  her  life  is  a  great  cargo,  and  some  of  it  heavy:  

I  wish  her  a  lucky  passage.  

The  speaker  describes  the  experiences  of  his  daughter’s  life  as  cargo  that  she  continues  to  carry  with  her  throughout  the  rest  of  it.  Some  of  it  is  “heavy”  meaning  that  it  is  unpleasant  and  burdens  her  for  the  rest  of  her  life.  He  wishes  her  a  “passage”  of  happy  experiences.  

•  Enjambment  

•  Motif  •  Ship  

•  “cargo”  

•  “passage”  

•  Metaphor  •  “the  stuff  /  Of  her  life  is  a  great  cargo”    

•  Imagery  •  “great  cargo…some  of  it  heavy”  

Stanza  4  But  now  it  is  she  who  pauses,  

As  if  to  reject  my  thought  and  its  easy  figure.  

A  stillness  greatens,  in  which  

The  daughter  pauses.  The  commotion  of  her  writing  ceases.  She  rejects  his  wish  for  a  “lucky  passage”  or  happy  life.  She,  instead,  chooses  to  lead  a  life  full  of  even  painful  experiences,  a  life  worth  writing  about.      

•  Enjambment  

•  Simile  •  “as  if  to  reject  my  thought  

and  its  easy  figure”  

•  Imagery  •  “a  stillness  greatens”  

Stanza  5  The  whole  house  seems  to  be  thinking,  

And  then  she  is  at  it  again  with  a  bunched  clamor  

Of  strokes,  and  again  is  silent.  

It  is  almost  as  if  his  daughter  can  hear  his  thoughts  through  the  house.  The  whole  house  gains  this  sense  of  stillness  as  he  stops  to  think  about  his  wishes  for  his  daughter  and  her  rejection  of  them.  It  is  far  too  simple  a  comparison,  his  life  to  her  life,  that  he  has  made  and  based  his  wish  on.  He  rejects  the  wish  too,  and  she  begins  to  write  again.    

•  Enjambment  

•  Personification  •  “The  whole  house  seems  to  be  

thinking”  

•  Repetition  •  “silent”  like  the  idea  of  

“stillness”  in  the  previous  stanza  

Stanza  6  I  remember  the  dazed  starling  

Which  was  trapped  in  that  very  room,  two  years  ago;  

How  we  stole  in,  lifted  a  sash  

The  speaker  creates  a  new  likeness  for  his  daughter,  a  songbird.  She  used  to  be  trapped  by  her  ideas,  but  the  speaker  and  someone  else,  probably  her  mother,  helped  to  set  her  ideas  free.    

•  Enjambment  

•  Time  and  Space  •  Switches  to  past  tense  

•  Motif  •  Bird  

•  “starling”  

•  Metaphor  •  His  daughter  is  a  “dazed  starling”  who  was  “trapped”  

Stanza  7  And  retreated,  not  to  affright  it;  

And  how  for  a  helpless  hour;  through  the  crack  of  the  door,  

We  watched  the  sleek,  wild,  dark  

The  speaker  describes  how  once  they’d  set  her  free,  they  retreated,  as  not  to  overwhelm  her.  They  watched  her  as  she  endured  the  pains  and  growth  of  adolescence  without  their  assistance.    

•  Enjambment  

•  Time  and  Space  •  “helpless  hour”  •  “through  the  crack  of  the  door”  

•  Alliteration  •  “helpless  hour”  

•  Motif  •  Bird  

•  “sleek,  wild,  dark”  

Stanza  8  And  iridescent  creature  

Batter  against  the  brilliance,  drop  like  a  glove  

To  the  hard  floor,  or  the  desk-­‐top,  

The  speaker  continues  to  describe  his  daughter’s  adolescent  hardships.  He  links  the  bird  motif  to  her  with  the  phrase  “to  the  hard  floor,  or  the  desk-­‐top.”  When  she  was  overwhelmed,  she  dropped  like  a  bird  would  but  against  her  desk-­‐top,  where  she  was  writing.    

•  Enjambment  

•  Alliteration  •  “batter  against  the  brilliance”  

•  Simile  •  “drop  like  a  glove”  

•  Motif  •  Bird  

•  “iridescent  creature”  

Stanza  9  And  wait  then,  humped  and  bloody,  

For  the  wits  to  try  it  again;  and  how  our  spirits  

Rose  when,  suddenly  sure,  

Much  like  a  bird,  his  daughter  recovers  from  her  adolescent  trials  and  tribulations.  She  rises.    

•  Enjambment  

•  Imagery  •  “humped  and  bloody”  

•  Motif  •  Bird  •  “rose”  

Stanza  10  It  lifted  off  from  a  chair-­‐back,  

Beating  a  smooth  course  for  the  right  window  

And  clearing  the  sill  of  the  world.  

The  speaker  continues  to  describe  his  daughter’s  recovery  and  how  she  rises  to  take  the  right  path,  narrowly  escaping  from  her  obstacles,  which  are  the  “sill[s]  of  the  world.”  

•  Enjambment  

•  Metaphor  •  “the  right  window”  =  right  path  in  

life  •  “clearing  of  the  sill  of  the  world”    

•  Motif  •  Bird  

•  “beating  a  smooth  course”  •  “clearing  of  the  sill”    

Stanza  11  It  is  always  a  matter,  my  darling,  

Of  life  or  death,  as  I  had  forgotten.  I  wish  

What  I  wished  you  before,  but  harder.  

The  speaker  lets  go  of  his  simplified  comparisons  of  ships  and  starlings  to  her  life,  realizing  that  everything  is  simply  a  matter  of  life  or  death.  He  re-­‐wishes  her  a  lucky  passage.    

•  Enjambment  

•  Repetition  (0f  idea)  •  “I  wish  /  What  I  wished  

you  before,  but  harder”  

Conclusion  

The  father  compares  his  daughter’s  journey  through  life  and  writing  to  his  own.  However,  then  he  compares  it  using  ship  imagery.  He  then  sees  this  comparison  as  unfit,  as  well,  so  he  compares  it  using  bird  imagery.  Finally,  he  realizes  her  life,  much  like  every  life,  is  incomparable.  Realizing  the  unpredictability  of    her  life  because  of  this,  he  merely  wishes  her  a  lucky  passage.